


One Week

by bindside



Series: One week [1]
Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: I'm also changing a few game rules but they're all minor, M/M, beedle is a good friend to link and he is also trans, but it may get slightly nsfw, horses also work more realistically, i dont actually know if i have any straight characters in this fic, just not sexual, like you can have pet dogs instead of just saying hi to them at stables, link has trouble in conversations with new people since he has trouble figuring out what to say, link is absolutely clueless please help him, link is also trans but it isn't mentioned a lot, mlm author, so he's technically selectively mute, there will also not be any smut/porn/whatever you want to call it in this, this story also doesnt have transphobia in it, trans author, very slow burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-08
Updated: 2017-09-17
Packaged: 2018-11-10 21:37:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 48,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11135181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bindside/pseuds/bindside
Summary: Link did not come into consciousness in a particularly glamorous way. He woke up to the sound of a young woman’s voice in his head, which was alarming enough, but he was also surrounded by water and thoroughly convinced he was going to drown.





	1. New beginnings

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first work in Legend Of Zelda! This fic will be largely based off of things I've personally encountered in this game and a few things I wish were possible (but i promise I'm not altering the game too much.) It may take a chapter or two to get to meet prince sidon but i promise to make it worth the wait. Beedle is also going to be a good friend to Link because I love him anyway enjoy the story

Link did not come into consciousness in a particularly glamorous way. He woke up to the sound of a young woman’s voice in his head, which was alarming enough, but he was also surrounded by water and  _ thoroughly _ convinced he was going to drown. 

He jolted upright, flailing out of the water onto the floor, promptly hitting his head on the side of a box.

By no means was it a good start to his second chance at life.

But still, Link shoved himself up, even though his legs started to buckle under him as he tried, and eventually figured out that his legs knew how to walk all on their own, through a process he’d later learn was called muscle memory. He had no memories, no understanding of what was going on, but he did have the will to get up and go.

He glanced around the room, then stumbled towards a pedestal with a tablet resting in it. Somehow, he just knew he was supposed to go to it. Was somebody in his head?

“That is a sheikah slate.”

Link jumped, glancing around him wildly to look for where this voice was coming from. Not finding a source, he went to the pedestal and picked up the so-called “Sheikah slate” as the girl’s voice droned on in the back of his head, none of the words registering with him. Hardly able to understand what half of them meant, he investigated all the corners of the room around him, trying to find something that would explain what the hell was going on.

He couldn’t find anything.

He went right by the chests on either side of the path, not even noticing them, as the target in his mind was on a pedestal identical to the first. He stared at it in confusion, noticing that it did not have a tablet in it- was that one already taken? Had someone else woken up here before him? That was awfully strange. 

A stone wall blocked his path out of the area, which he suspected had something to do with the pedestal. So he offered the sheikah slate to the pedestal, a sacrifice for his freedom. And then the wall started sliding open, and Link was exposed to light, a concept he’d been blind to for the past one-hundred years; and it was so, so beautiful, so incredibly beautiful that he had no choice but to sink to his knees and cry.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Link did not know who he was. He did not know  _ what  _ he was. He wouldn’t have even known his name had the girl not told him. 

And he did not know nor understand the world around him. 

So when he marched directly into a camp of these little creatures called “bokoblins” and intended to say hello, his head was almost immediately bashed in by a very crude bat. The last thing he remembered was the sound of a crack as his skull fractured until he woke up, some forty feet away from the camp without any sign of injury. 

It was another bad start, but he wasn’t going to let that stop him. 

He gathered whatever he could around him, climbing trees to get apples, using a rock to chip off bits of a tree branch to make the end sharp, pulling on the clothes he’d found in the place where he’d woken up, until he finally determined he was ready enough to enact revenge. 

He stood, an hour later, frozen in a pool of blood. Not his own- the monsters’ blood. He couldn’t remember fighting them, he must have blacked out, but he woke up and their bodies were scattered around him. How had he even  _ managed  _ something like this?

Gently, he picked his way around the bloody bodies, prying a rusty sword from one of their cold hands and strapping it to his back, shuddering as he quickly looked away from its unfocused, faded eyes. He picked up an abandoned shield and bow from the ground, then quickly went away from the camp, unwilling to stay near it any longer. He felt a nasty substance rising in his throat, spilling over from his lips as he puked up everything he’d eaten onto the ground. 

He made his way towards a small pond, rinsing his hands of the blood that clung to them, his fingers shaking so hard he wasn’t even sure if he could manage the simple task. He rinsed the vomit away from his face, groaning as he coughed a little bit more up.

“So, you’ve taken care of them. Good job.” Link spun around, skidded on a rock, and fell backwards into the pond. He inhaled sharply, taking in a mouthful of water before shoving himself above the surface and coughing it out, in what he was sure was a  _ very _ impressive display. Looking up at the person who’d startled him, he blew the damp hair out of his eyes and stared at them, hand inching towards his sword if he needed to defend himself. 

The sword, of course, was probably not going to be of much help any more. It was rusted, and now in the water, which was only going to damage it further.

The old man sighed, looking down at him. 

“That won’t be necessary. Let me help you up.” He held out a hand for Link to pull himself up with, and stubbornly, Link got up on his own. The man sighed again, muttering to himself.

“I still have a ways to go in earning your trust, it seems.” Link stared at him suspiciously, taking a step away from him. He was still standing around ankle-deep in the pond, and his toes were beginning to go numb. Who  _ was _ this guy, anyway?

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Link wasn’t exactly happy with his current predicament. 

The old man wanted him to go around to all four shrines and give the stuff he found in them to  _ him  _ all for a stinking piece of cloth that would let him get off this blasted plateau. He’d already completed the first, when the man had decided to change the terms on their agreement, forcing him to go around and painstakingly get to and completing all of them while messing with his sheikah slate in weird ways. 

He’d been awake for two days and was already losing his spirit.

Nothing to do but get the spirit orbs, he supposed. Then again, he wasn’t exactly sure how he planned to give them to the old man- they had kind of been absorbed into his body, in a weird way that always made him cough afterwards. 

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Link really, really hated the old man. He stared up at him, on top of the damn roof, telling him to come up there and  _ then  _ he’d tell him the truth. Link was huffing and puffing from running all the way over here, and now this guy wanted him to climb up a building?

He’d already exchanged his spirit orbs to the goddess statue, although he wasn’t exactly sure what that did for him. 

Who did he think he was, anyway?

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

The king of hyrule, apparently. That’s who he thought he was. 

Link clung to the paraglider, terrified that his fingers would slip and he’d plummet to his death, but he safely landed on the ground, his bare feet tickled by the grass under them. 

He closed his eyes, breathing in through his nose and exhaling through his mouth, stepping out of the grass onto a dirt path. He had no clue where it led, and yet, he followed it. 

There was no other place to go, really. He wouldn’t be able to get back up to the great plateau, since there was no way he was climbing all the way back up. 

He walked down the obviously-well used path, developing awful blisters on his feet to the point he was sure he was definitely going to fall over any second. By the time night fell, he had at least two hundred bug bites. He stopped walking, sat down under a tree, curled up and squeezed his eyes shut to try and fall asleep. He could feel a beetle crawl over his leg and then rest on his ankle, deciding that he’d let it stay. Maybe it just wanted a nice place to sleep, and who was he to stop it? If he were so small, and he’d found someone with a nice foot to sleep on, he’d appreciate if they let him stay.

He had apparently succeeded in falling asleep, because he woke up about an hour later when it was still dark out. There was a concerned face looking at him, someone with freckles and a red nose. Link squinted at them, sighing as he sat back up.

“Sorry, I was worried i’d found a dead body on the side of the road. Happens a lot more than you might think! My name’s Beedle, i’m a traveling merchant, and i’m headed to the Outskirt stable right now. Do you need help getting somewhere?”

Link stared at him blankly, trying to connect words together in his brain to form a response, that no, he didn’t need help.  _ Help… No need? No, I not need help. I no trust.  _ He cursed himself, knowing that each of those sentences was wrong. How was he even supposed to respond? Maybe he did need help.

“Um…. I take it... you can’t speak?” Beedle asked, holding out a hand to help Link off the ground. “I’m going to take you to the stable, i’d feel awful if something happened to you.” Link stood up on his own yet again, stumbling a bit on his blistered feet as he started to follow Beedle along the path, hoping he could make it with the bit of extra energy the hour of sleep had offered him.

Beedle kept trying to chat with him as they walked, which Link didn’t mind, but he was getting tired from walking and it was starting to just be a buzz in the back of his head. His vision was starting to fade again when they finally reached the stable. 

“Do you have anything that you could exchange for forty rupees?” Beedle asked, looking at Link. Link glanced back, raising an eyebrow- rupees? The word sounded familiar, but he had no recollection of what they actually were.

“Oh, um. Can you just give me like, five bokoblin teeth? That’d be enough to get you a soft bed in the inn.” Link passed Beedle the teeth, unsure of why he’d want to exchange anything for monster teeth that stank of rotten meat, but Link was happy enough to be rid of them. Actually, why had he picked them up in the first place?

Beedle handed him these shiny stones in return, two red gem-like things. Link didn’t have much of a clue of what to do after that, but he figured it out from the man at the counter waving at him. 

“Hello, over here! 20 rupees for a regular bed, 40 for the soft one!” Link stared at him and questioningly offered the two gems he had been given- he assumed these were rupees, but he only had two, so he wasn’t quite sure how to convince the man to let him stay.

“20, 40- alright, soft bed for you then? I’ll let you go get some rest then. Sweet dreams.”

Link was absolutely mind blown. The man had just completely miscounted his rupees by 38, and he didn’t even notice. That was quite a bit to miscount by! He wanted to tell the man that he’d messed up, but the fluffy bed was looking really, really appealing. 

In fact, it was so appealing that Link did not bother waking up for  _ fourteen hours. _ He awoke to the chatter of Beedle and someone else wondering if he’d entered some kind of coma or suffered from the cold outside, and he felt more blankets being stacked on top of him.

He certainly didn’t mind. He snuggled deeper into the bed, feeling sufficiently warm and comfortable, yawning as he started to wake up more fully.

“Oh, thank god, you’re alive. I thought that you’d died in the middle of the night.”

Link pushed himself up, looking over at the source of the sound, smiling at Beedle in recognition. He supposed he owed this guy for getting him here safely.

“So, I was going to ask you, did you have anything else you wanted to sell? You seem like you need rupees.” Link nodded, scooting to the floor and pulling out his pack of assorted materials he’d come across- monster parts, a few frogs, two fish, and maybe ten or so of these shiny stones that didn’t seem to look like rupees, so he assumed they were worthless. He pushed them towards Beedle, who was sitting across from him. Link was incredibly confused as to why Beedle’s eyes went so wide at the sudden pile of shiny rocks.

“Um, are you sure you want to sell these? They’re very valuable.” Beedle said, looking at the shiny rocks.

Link picked one up, looking at it curiously- why was it valuable? Were they supposed to taste good or something? He put it in his mouth and tried to bite down but only succeeded in hurting his teeth and getting a weird look from Beedle. No, Beedle could have these.

“Well, this all adds up to twenty-one hundred rupees, so here.” Beedle slid seven gold rupees over to Link.

Link looked at Beedle, confused. Beedle seemed confused by the lack of a verbal question.

“Um, these gold rupees are worth 300 rupees each, so if you put them all together, you get your 2,100 rupees.” 

_ Oh! _

Well, that certainly made more sense. That must mean that red rupees were worth twenty, and the man at the counter had  _ not  _ actually miscounted. It was he who had misinterpreted the value of the rupees! Link gathered his items, stuffed them back in his bag, and started heading out the door. 

“Sir! Would you like a horse to aid in your travels?” Link looked back up at the man at the counter, nodding.

“We have a few left for now before we can go out and add more to the pasture. The papers are all here, buying a horse costs 200 rupees. Tell me when you’ve decided.”

Link glanced over the papers listing all of the horses, and picked one when he read the temperament was “wild.” That’s all he needed to be sold on this little one named Mimi with a glossy black coat.

And so, Link ventured out on horseback, his feet appreciating the much needed rest as they trudged along the dirt path with signs pointing them along to a place called Kakariko Village.


	2. Sneaky River Snails

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the comments guys! I'm already working on chapter 3 but i think i found an alright place to cut off chapter 2? sorta? here u go
> 
> For those with emetophobia, take caution, there's some vomiting at the end

Link was glad that Mimi knew how to follow paths, because he was having a splendid time enjoying the scenery. He passed by at a trot alongside small animals that he didn’t even know the names to. 

He tried mimicking the sounds a red furry animal was making, but it just ran away from him. He sighed, brushing out Mimi’s mane with his fingers, then gently pressing in on her sides with his feet to get her to go a bit faster. 

Link grinned as Mimi picked up the pace, sitting up higher to let the wind blow through his hair more freely. He closed his eyes, hair lashing around behind him as his brain sparked and tried to recover something.

He furrowed his eyebrows, trying to summon forth the blurry images his brain was giving him.

“ _ Link, come he…”  _ The voice in his memory faded off as he focused harder, trying to bring it back.  _ “Come here!”  _ The voice shouted angrily, sending a jolt of panic up Link’s spine as he tried to remember even more. The vague shape of a hand came back to slap him.  _ “What did I tell you about playing with the sheep?”  _

Link forced the memories from his head as another hit was delivered to his face, letting the wind blow off the faint memory of the hand. He looked up, realizing that they’d reached the village. 

Link must have fallen asleep on the ride, because it had only felt like a few minutes. He led the horse under a small wooden structure and then hopped off, cringing as the blisters on his feet flared up in protest. He needed shoes. Hopefully, someone in the town had a store for that sort of thing. It seemed probable.

He limped along the path to the stores, spotting a large building with two men guarding it at the base. He squinted, trying to recall why it was familiar, when a woman yelled at him from in front of a store.

“Sir! Over here! Come check out the Claree Collection!” Link looked up, walking towards the store and wincing once again as his feet hit the hardwood rather than the soft dirt.

He looked around at the store’s wares, glancing between the two clothing types. Upon closer inspection, the stuff that had a weird drippy eye on it cost a lot more, so Link went with the cheaper option- A hylian hood, tunic, and pair of trousers, that conveniently came with boots. 

The woman, named Claree, pointed him to a changing room, where he pulled on the clothes, sighing with relief. These clothes were much more comfortable than the scratchy, moth-bitten ones left behind in the Shrine of Resurrection. 

The boots were another welcome comfort, even though he knew he’d have to take them off while the blisters healed or regardless, they’d never get better. 

Link walked outside, pulling the hood up to protect himself from the sunlight- damn, he felt cool! He was just strutting around a village, pillaging their supplies, while wearing a hood!

Well, technically, he wasn’t pillaging their supplies. He was buying them. But that was  _ extremely _ irrelevant. 

He went over to the house the guards were standing in front of, noticing some odd statues near them- only four had apples, and the last didn’t. Link frowned, thinking that the poor middle bowl had been done a great injustice. Why did nobody add one? He plucked one from a tree to add it to the bowl.

He screamed when a tiny creature popped out from behind the bowls in a flurry of leaves, Link darting to hide behind the tree he’d taken the apple from. 

“You found me! Hey, where’d you go?” The creature questioned in a high pitched voice, Link slowly peering out from behind the tree. “Oh, there you are! Here, have this! Give it to Hestu if you see him!” Link picked up the odd seed, sneezing when he smelled it. He pocketed it, nodding at the small creature in recognition, then walking to the guards.

“State your business, traveller!” One of the guards stopped him, Link jumping what felt like fifteen feet in the air when they acknowledged him. Must everyone yell at him?

“Wait- what’s the object on his hip?”

“Is that a sheikah slate?”

Link tried to pick up what they whispered to each other after that, his pointed ears flicking towards them until they faced him.

“Go on ahead, Link. Sorry for the confusion.”

Link was alarmed that they knew his name, but he climbed up the steps and shoved aside the doors to meet an old woman resting on a stack of pillows. 

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Link was having what some call an ‘existential crisis.’

After Impa had delivered the knowledge of who he was, of what he was, his brain was having trouble fighting between his two existences. So he sat on the bed he’d rented in the inn and stared at the ceiling, eyes wide. He was positive that he wouldn’t be getting any sleep that night, so he gave up and hopped on top of Mimi, who was outside, and started to steer her through the street.

He was still hungry, so he’d have to collect some plants or something to eat, and he definitely needed a bath of some kind. He rode the horse out of Kakariko, stopping by a small pond momentarily before deeming it too shallow for a bath. It was still dark out, and he could hardly see anything, but there was a large enough lake somewhere in the distance that moonlight bounced off of. 

He made Mimi go faster and faster, trying to let the wind clear his mind of the troubling thoughts, as they rode closer and closer to the lake. He pressed in on her sides once more and was promptly bucked off, crying out as he fell to the ground. His shoulder popped, radiating pain from his body just from the pure shock of it. 

Well, at least he was only a short walk to the lake, because Mimi started running away from him. Link sighed, shoving himself to his feet and then trudging the rest of the way to the lake. Hopefully she’d find her way back to the stable she’d come from.

He sat down in the sand, pulled off his clothes, folded them, and then waded into the water. He let his hair down, wrapping the clasp around his wrist before ducking under the surface, blowing a few bubbles out from his nose before resurfacing. 

Link looked down at himself, taking note of all the scars scattered across his body. Most were jagged, imprecise, clearly meant to be wounds, but two were smooth and deliberate and had clearly been properly healed. He took a deep breath, then dove below the surface again, intending to catch some fish- hopefully.

He swam down towards the bottom, which wasn’t too far, since he was still close to the shore. Maybe these glowing snails were good to eat? He could have sworn there was some kind of disease you could get from eating them raw, though. Maybe he’d have to set them on fire or something. He was pretty sure that was how to get rid of it.

Link had collected about ten before his lungs started to get upset with him and he resurfaced, taking a deep breath. Surely, ten snails was enough to get him…. Somewhere.

Of course, Link had no clue how he was going to actually cook these things. He didn’t know how to make a fire, and he didn’t exactly have anyone to ask. His stomach grumbled as he stared at the snail, evaluating a solution. 

No harm, no foul, right?

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Wrong.

Link had pulled all the meat from the shell in one go, filling him with a sense of accomplishment as he tore it into little bits and chewed on them experimentally. It tasted amazing, probably because he hadn’t eaten much in a while. He pulled on his clothes to keep himself warm as he curled up in the sand and fell asleep. And that, of course, was his last bit of peace. 

He woke up what he assumed was about three hours later, and barely managed to lift his head up to avoid spewing vomit over his new clothes while he puked his lungs out. He felt like he’d thrown up things he had eaten one-hundred years prior, before he’d even known the shrine of resurrection existed.

Eventually, it stopped, and Link shuddered with every breath until he was finally sure he wouldn’t continue, and he crawled his way to the lake and stuck his face directly into it, drinking as much water as he felt he could hold. 

He came up for air, sputtering a little bit as he accidentally breathed in a bit of water. Groggily, he sat up, tying his hair back up once again. He stared into the water, glaring at the snails, when he heard footsteps approaching. Not regular footsteps, though- they made an odd slapping sound on the wet sand. 

“Say hey there!” Link scrambled backwards, screaming, scrabbling for his sword. Where the hell had he put it? He was going to die at the hands of this…. Fish thing. Link found the rusty sword, scrambling to his feet and pointing it at the red creature.

“Woah, woah, okay, calm down- pardon me, but you’re a hylian, aren’t you? Can you put down the sword and talk for a moment?” Link bLinked, slowly coming to the realization that what had sounded initially like a predator was actually awfully friendly. Link dropped the sword, but still stood a good five feet away from them.

“I’m Prince Sidon, of the Zora!” He exclaimed, grinning widely and displaying his absolutely terrifying rows of razor sharp teeth. Link took a step backwards. “Oh, sorry. I don’t mean to frighten you. Well, the Zora domain is just up the path- if you can make it there, i’ll explain what I need help with. Can you do that?” Link nodded, a bit dazed and unsure of what the hell he was agreeing to, but he nodded anyway.

“Great! Here, have this- it might help you get there. I’ll go on ahead!” Sidon jumped back into the water, leaving Link dazed and confused. Why on earth would he need help getting there? 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> someone help this poor boy
> 
> p.s. i have never actually eaten a raw snail before so i dont actually know the effects and its entirely possible i got some of it wrong. i just based it off my own experiences with food poisoning


	3. I Wanna Be Like You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this chapter took longer than the others! i hit a little bit of a roadblock but I managed to get past it. warning again for a bit of vomit at the beginning. sorry if the formatting is weird ao3 is giving me trouble

Link threw up more times than he could keep track of as he made his way along the path. 

Every time he fought a new group of these lizard things, he’d promptly puke next to their dead bodies and then loot their camp. On one memorable occasion, he puked on a lizard thing mid-battle. He kept having to stop and rinse his sword off in the river. He kept ripping apart the dead bodies too- apparently, from what he’d learned with Beedle, the talons and horns that were easily severed from these would sell for quite a bit. 

He eventually came across one with a lit fire in their camp, making use of it to roast the few ingredients he’d collected. A few berries, nuts, apples, but not the korok seed. It didn’t seem like it’d be worth eating and he was pretty sure he was mildly allergic from how he sneezed every time he caught a whiff of the signature smell it carried.

He pocketed all of the newly cooked ingredients, tripping over a rock on his way up to manage stabilizing himself. He just really, really hoped whatever Sidon wanted him to do didn’t involve any grace or balance. Bitterly, he kicked the rock aside to get revenge for tripping him, and a burst of leaves popped out.  
“You found me!”

Link sneezed.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Eventually, he found a bridge, walking along it slowly as what he assumed was the Domain came into focus. He yawned in exhaustion- the journey must have taken all day, and he didn’t get much sleep last night either. Hopefully they had an inn or a room he could stay in, otherwise he may just have to sleep on the floor.

 

Link was really wondering how on earth he was supposed to be a Hylian Champion when in the past 24 hours he’d accomplished throwing up all of his “breakfast”, getting thoroughly soaked in the rain, and nearly passing out countless times. Some champion.

 

“Hylian! You made it! I always believed in you!” Sidon yelled, directly next to him. “So… I forgot to ask, but what’s your name?”

 

Link stared at him for a moment, realizing there was no real way around this question than speaking. He knew his vocal chords worked- he’d screamed, yelled, and cried plenty of times to know they were working. But the thing was, when he tried, all that came out was an odd whimper that died in his throat. He simply couldn’t will himself to form any words. 

 

“Can you not speak? No matter! We can figure it out eventually. I will escort you to a guest room and then we can speak with my father in the morning.” 

 

A room.

 

Boy, did that sound appealing! Link followed Sidon with a bit of renewed energy, hoping that perhaps a meal- a properly prepared one- was in store for him. Maybe tomorrow, though, he was still kind of nauseous.  The prince led him through long, winding paths around the domain until he finally reached an empty room, opening the door for Link.

 

“Do you need anything?” Sidon asked, keeping the door open as Link walked into the room. Link shook his head, waving goodbye and offering Sidon a grateful smile. The door closed, and Link pulled his boots off, leaving them by the side of his bed. He pulled out his hair tie and then jumped onto the bed, surprised when he sank into it.

 

He sat with his legs crossed, inspecting the bottoms of his feet to check on the blisters. Most of the smaller ones had healed, and the larger ones were starting to close up. 

 

_ Maybe they’d properly heal when I start getting sleep on a regular basis,  _ Link scolded himself, laying down on the mattress and pulling the covers over his face, praying to be asleep soon. 

 

_ “Link? Get up, honey.” Link grumbled, pulling the covers over his face and grunting in objection as someone pulled them back. His mother looked down at him, smiling gently. “It’s time to get up, honey. You’re eight now, you have to help around the house.”  _

 

_ “But I don’t want to do that!” Link frowned as he spoke, furrowing his eyebrows. “I want to go hunting with dad!”  _

 

_ “But you’re- oh, nevermind. It wouldn’t hurt. I’ll go fetch your father.” His mother said, getting up and leaving his room. Link shifted out of bed, letting his feet hit the floor gently. He frowned in distaste at his nightgown, quickly going to his closet to grab the clothes he’d bought for himself after tending his neighbor’s farm animals for a week and saving up the rupees he’d been given.  _

 

_ “Link? You wanted to go hunting with me?” His father asked from the doorway, Link jumping up to see him. _

 

_ “Yessir, yessir! And I’ll stay out of your way!” He declared proudly, grinning from ear to ear. His father laughed, gesturing for him to follow down to the cabinet where they kept their weapons. He handed Link a simple traveler’s set- bow, sword, and shield- while he opted for a knight’s kit.  _

 

_ He led Link outside, both of them starting off on the well-worn path to the nearby woods. Link relished in the feeling of his own, comfortable clothes and the way his boots hardly made a sound against the dirt, contrary to the weird clacky shoes his mother got for him that made a definitive noise every time they struck the ground. The cloth pants were also a plus. Additionally, the hood made him feel really, really cool. It had a cape trailing behind it and his ears barely poked out from the folds of the cloth- he looked like a true hunter! _

 

_ “So why’d you want to come hunting with me?” Link’s dad inquired, looking down at his son.  _

 

_ “I wanna be like you! I’ll be a big, strong hero when I grow up, and I’ll protect all my friends and do whatever I want!” His father chuckled, ruffling Link’s hair affectionately.  _

 

_ “Sure thing, kiddo.” They came upon the woods, Link pulling his bow off of his back so he’d be ready if he spotted anything. They both crept slowly through the trees, Link jumping a little every time he heard a noise.  _

 

_ Finally, they came across a small wild goat grazing along the undergrowth. Link and his father crouched down, Link nocking an arrow and drawing his bow back, biting his lip as he tried to aim for the goat, and let the arrow fly. It hit the goat square in the shoulder, keeping it from moving as his father dealt the final blow.  _

 

_ “Nice job. We can get a few birds and then we’ll carry it all home. Alright?” Link nodded, picking up the goat’s body and trying to sling it over his shoulder before his father just took it from him. _

 

_ Link managed to shoot a pigeon a bit later, strapping it to his own belt with his father’s instruction. They began walking again, and Link’s ears shot up as he heard footsteps behind them- not quite animal, but similar. He froze, his father looking over to question him, as a red pig-like thing burst out from the trees, walking towards them, clearly focused on the pigeon and the goat they were carrying.  _

 

_ “Don’t move,” His father instructed as he realized that several more of these creatures of different colors were surrounding them, keeping them from leaving.  _

 

_ Link, of course, did not listen. He never listened.  _

 

_ With as much of a war-cry as an eight year old could muster, he ran forward with his sword drawn and slashed it across the creature’s face, kicking it down before turning to a blue one and promptly shoving his sword through its face.  _

 

_ He pinned it down under his foot as he tried to pry the thoroughly jammed sword from the thing’s skull, as he heard one coming up behind him. He glanced behind him, wide-eyed, as a white and purple one started approaching him. Link’s sword was still thoroughly embedded in its skull, and all he had between him and this angry thing was a flimsy shield. _

 

_ And, of course, his father, who cut the creature’s head off before it could even touch him. His father had killed the rest of the creatures while Link was preoccupied, helping him yank the sword out and giving him a look. _

 

_ “You’re in trouble, young lady. What did I tell you to do?” _

 

_ “...stay still,” he mumbled, dejected.  _

 

_ “And what did you do?” _

 

_ “...not stay still.” Link grumbled, strapping his sword to his back. _

 

_ “Alright. Well, the important thing is that you’re okay. Let’s head home, alright?” _

 

_ “Okay, dad. I’m sorry.” _

 

Link jolted awake to a knock on his door, hitting his head against the side of the bed, which he had apparently fallen off of while he was sleeping. He took a moment to untangle himself from his blankets, then pushed himself up and made his way to the door. He was a little bit jarred from his dream, unsure of why his parents kept calling him a girl. 

 

He opened the door, seeing nothing but a slip of paper. He picked it up, confused, then saw that it was a ticket to be served breakfast. He pocketed it, walking down the ramps and stairs to what he assumed was the place to get food, given the fact that everyone was eating there.

 

He went up to the tables with plates of food, handing the slip to a Zora on the other side, taking the plate she gave him and sitting down at a small table with one chair. 

 

He’d been given this intricate dish that was in no way similar to the meals he’d “cooked” for himself on the road. For one, the fish on the side had clearly been cooked, and it was surrounded in a bed of rice and greens. He picked up the pronged utensil on the plate, seeing that everyone else was using it to bring the food to their mouths instead of simply using their hands to shove it in their mouths.

 

Fine. He could play that game, he supposed. He awkwardly used the side of it to cut off a piece of the fish, stabbing it and carefully bringing it to his mouth, cringing as he scraped his teeth against the metal. As he continued awkwardly bringing the food to his mouth, but as fast as he could, he noticed that a few people were looking at him weird- yeah,  _ he  _ was the weird one. Never mind that  _ they _ were the ones who made perfectly good metal into these stupid utensils instead of simply using your hands, a much more efficient tool. 

 

As he finished the meal, he heard someone yell his name. 

 

“Champion Link, killer of Lady Mipha! I will enact my revenge right here!” The old zora yelled, running towards Link with a trident in hand. Link looked up, confused, then noticed that the trident was trained right at his head. He ducked down just in time, reaching up to yank the trident away from the Zora, taking a few steps back and holding it defensively- he did not, however, want to hurt him. He seemed misguided, not evil.

 

“Give that back right this instant!” The Zora yelled, walking towards him. All eyes in the room were on them, and then Sidon shoved his way in between them and glared at the elder.

 

“Link is an esteemed guest, and you will treat him as such. Take your trident and leave.” The elder grunted, taking the trident that Link handed back to him and walking off in a huff. 

 

“Sorry about him, my friend! Let us go speak to my father.” Sidon started walking, Link following behind him and out of the room, grateful to be out of the watchful eyes of the Zora population.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for those wondering, link isn't "out" as trans when he's eight, since he doesn't really know. your comments have been lovely and motivating, so tell me what you think about this chapter please!! see y'all next time!
> 
> update: sorry, i apparently accidentally cut out the first paragraph of the chapter? well its there now. my apologies


	4. Con-Artist Cushions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I am having way too much fun with this story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the comments and kudos! I'm glad you guys are enjoying this story as much as I'm loving writing it.

Sure. _Suuuure._ Link could go steal shock arrows from a horse-dude thing. That is, in theory, something he could do.

In theory.

Link, currently, was hyperventilating behind a rock, the Lynel in the clearing behind him. He’d fought tiny-ass bokoblins, not this thing with a weapon big enough to crush him into mince-meat! Sure, technically, he didn’t have to fight it. But he found it unlikely that he’d manage to get twenty or so shock arrows  _ without _ being noticed and promptly murdered.

He could totally do this.

Link shoved himself up, still creeping along behind the rock, then quickly darting to a tree and nabbing three shock arrows from the front of it, quickly ducking behind.

He was thin enough to not show across the other side of the tree- he hoped.

Once he was sure the lynel hadn’t spotted him, he crept to another tree, and another, and he ended up with 34 shock arrows before he even noticed what happened. He grinned, counting them all individually, humming happily, before he realized a shadow was being cast over him.

He picked up the arrows and ran. He scrabbled up a small hill, throwing his shield on the ground and then sliding downhill on top of it, screaming the whole way. This was likely ill-advised, as the Lynel would now be able to tell where he was as long as he kept screaming.

After his lungs finally gave out and he sank to his knees, he checked behind him- no lynel. He coughed a little, pulling himself up using a tree branch, then shoved a rock out of his way using his foot.

“Hehehe!" 

Link cursed himself silently as he was sent into another sneezing fit.

“Link! Down here! On the dock!” Link looked over at Sidon, pulling out his paraglider so he could glide down to where Sidon was. 

“Are you ready?” Sidon grinned at him, eyes sparkling.

Link nodded.

 

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Link had a good deal of injuries after his fight with Water Blight Ganon. He was soaked to the bone, freezing cold, bleeding from numerous cuts, and his head was pounding from when an ice block had collided with his face. Groggily, he put the sheikah slate on the main control unit, as he’d attempted to before the monster had sprouted out of the damn thing.

Terrified, he watched as another form came out from the control unit, until realizing it was Mipha, the girl who’d apparently been in love with him one-hundred years ago. Link didn’t really hear any of what she was saying, since he could hear his own head pounding- did he have a cushion? No, that wasn’t the word. A con-cushion? That sounded right. Maybe it was formed after someone got a head injury from a cushion that conned them into thinking it was soft. He stifled a giggle, not wanting to interrupt the girl who was speaking to him.

His body started splitting apart, like it did the one time he’d used the sheikah warping thing as the old man had told him to do. He didn’t want to do it again.

This sensation felt different though. More warm and fuzzy as it split him apart, instead of slicing him up into little blue lines.

He stumbled as he reappeared in the Zora domain, his teeth chattering. He stumbled forward to the throne room, hoping to inform the prince that he’d succeeded.

“Link! Little Hylian! Are you alright?” Link looked up, nodding. Sidon grinned, grasping Link’s hand in his own for a vigorous handshake.

“Well done, my friend!” 

“Thanks.” Link replied in a shaky, forced whisper that sounded more like a whine than anything. Sidon’s eyes widened in surprise, blinking a few times and then nodding awkwardly. Link silently rejoiced in the one word he’d managed to get out, but he wasn’t sure he’d be able to do much else for now. 

Except maybe sleep. He was up for sleeping- after, of course, he talked to the hilariously disproportionate king.

 

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_ Link split open a sack of horse feed, pouring it carefully into the trough. He gave one of the horses- Cheddar- a pat on the nose, before turning to the chicken pen.  _

  _He was doing as much as he could for his neighbors to earn rupees- because, like any other twelve year old boy, he had plenty of things to spend them on. He’d hunt for the elderly woman down the street and sell her whatever meat he got. He’d feed the local farmer’s animals. He’d take the priest’s dogs out for walks. He’d haul things back and forth for people too lazy to do these things themselves._

  _He scattered some grain and seed around for cuccoos to eat, jumping as one pecked at his ankle. He sighed, dropping some more to keep the cuccoo from getting angry, then stepped away. His least favorite task was milking the goats, because they consistently bit him or tried to butt him with their horns. He always did it last._

  _When he’d finished on the farm, he knocked on the man’s door and held out his hand for the rupees allotted to him. The man pressed a purple rupee into his palm, Link wrapping his fingers around it and then tucking it into his breast pocket._

_ “Thanks for your work, young man.” Link nodded, glad his neighbors had finally caught on to what he’d told his parents. He went down the street to the priest’s house, knocking on the door. He answered, smiling and handing two leashes to Link. _

  _“What about Mitsy?” Link asked, only recognizing Jules and Lola’s leashes._

  _“She’s sick, i’m afraid.” The two dogs ran up to the door, Link clipping the leashes onto their collars. “I’ll see you back in a bit.”_

_ Link waved goodbye, leading the dogs out into the woods. He’d often get two chores done at once like this, hunting while walking the dogs- and, on occasion, giving them some treats.  _

  _Jules liked to chase after everything she saw, while Lola would hang back and trot by his side. He loved them both, and desperately wanted a dog of his own, but his parents refused._

 

_ To be fair, his mother was allergic. _

 

_ Link tied the leashes around one of his feet so he could use both of his hands for the bow as he crept through the forest, the dogs following his lead as they sensed it was very important. He spotted a pink heron, drawing his bow back- that he had proudly bought with his own rupees- and then let the arrow fly. _

_ He considered himself good with a bow, and his theory proved true when he managed to strike it through the neck, grinning as he strapped the heron to his belt.  _

_As he crept along through the forest, Jules would often startle his prey, leaving him incredibly frustrated with nothing to show for the missed arrow._  

_ He was beginning to give up hope to catch anything but the heron until he saw by far the biggest deer he’d ever seen. _

_ He crouched down, being as silent as possible as he focused on perfectly hitting the deer through the head to avoid a non-lethal shot that made it flee instead of die.  _

_ He pulled the string taut, inhaling deeply and exhaling as he let the arrow fly- just like his dad had told him to do. He struck the deer through the eye, grinning widely and running to get the deer. _

  _And now came the problem of getting it home._

  _He picked up one of it’s legs, dragging it along the path and having to stop every few feet to catch his breath. The dogs tied to his foot kept dragging it out from under him, and he was almost positive it was sprained at this point._

  _He was so focused on the task at hand that he didn’t even notice the bear following him. He huffed, stopping for a moment, and heard a twig snap. He looked up quickly, gasping when he saw a bear in pursuit. He froze, hands slowly inching towards his bow and arrow, whipping them out at the last moment, drawing it as fast as he could, and aiming wildly for the bear. The arrow embedded in its shoulder, causing it to roar at him, before he deftly nocked another one into place and shot it through the bear’s chest, presumably puncturing its lungs or heart. It fell over in a heap, and Link started dragging it from the dirt path, the dogs tied to his leg not helping one bit._

  _He heard an odd whimper from the other side of the path, near where he’d shot the bear- a small cub was backed against a tree, looking at him cautiously. Link stared at it, wide eyed, realizing that he’d just killed its mother._

  _He was usually good about not killing pregnant or nursing animals, nor their babies, as he didn’t want to disrupt the forest’s balance. But this bear had started to hunt him- or probably the carcass he was dragging along._

  _Link made a bad decision._

  _He tied the leashes of the dogs to one antler each of the deer, then cautiously approached the baby bear, pulling out a jar of honey he kept with him. Animals loved the smell of it, so it worked wonderfully as bait- but it could also work in a pinch to get a small bear cub to trust you._

  _He poured a little of the honey onto his hand, offering it to the cub. He remained perfectly still as it licked the honey from his palm, looking up at him warily. It must be hungry, since it had followed its mother hunting._

  _Once the tiny cub seemed to trust him enough, he gently picked it up and held it to his chest, gently stroking the top of his head. He offered the bear more honey as he started clucking his tongue for the dogs to start following him- and since their leashes were tied to the horns, they also dragged the carcass along behind them with ease._

  _Link grinned at his success, allowing the cub to finish the whole bottle of honey by the time they’d gotten back to the village. Link untied the dogs from the carcass, holding the bear cradled in one arm. He walked the dogs back to the priest’s house, knocking on the door and accepting his payment of a red rupee and an odd look for the baby bear. He went and sold the grouse to the lady down the street, and then returned home carefully holding the cub to appear as non-threatening as possible as he dragged the deer in._

 " _Nice catch, son- What the hell do you have there?” His father’s tone went from appreciative to aggressive in a whopping half of a second._

_ “I, um, while I was taking the deer home, a bear started following me so I killed it, but it turns out she had a cub and I couldn’t just leave it there to starve, so-” _

_ His father sighed deeply, standing up to pick up the carcass from the ground and take it to the kitchen.  _ _ “If you want to take care of a wild animal, be my guest. But don’t expect any help.”  _

" _Yes sir!” Link replied, grinning, taking the bear up the stairs to his room. He set it down on his bed, going back downstairs to retrieve some food- a drumstick of frozen meat from the fridge and another jar of honey._

_He ran back up the stairs, feeding the cub the meat first and then the honey. He held out the glass of water he kept in his room for it, giggling as it drank and splashed water all over his bed._  

_“I’m gonna call you… Titan.” Link said, kissing the top of Titan’s head, laying his head down on the pillow and sighing contentedly._  

 

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

 

Link woke up in the medical ward of the Zora domain, his torso, left arm, and forehead wrapped in bandages. He coughed a little, half expecting to have been mauled in his sleep by a bear cub, but he remembered quickly that that was simply… a memory? A dream? A vision?

 He yawned, pushing himself up using his good hand and swinging his legs over the side of the cot. New day, new adventure. 

 Even if that adventure was finding out what a con-cushion was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As a disclaimer, if you come across a baby wild animal, leave it alone. I'm taking a bit of artistic liberty for what is technically plausible with wild animals, but don't go and try this at home, kids. (Try it at a friend's house so they have to clean the mess up instead.)


	5. Blessings to the Bloodied

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> i am so bad at chapter names.  
> also, sorry in advance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for taking so long to update, i've been busy. your support has been much appreciated!! reading through comments and checking kudos was so wonderful

Link yawned as he walked towards the great Zora bridge, intending to leave the domain to do… whatever else it was he had to do. He was Champion Link, Hero Of Hyrule, damn it, surely he had to do something!

He’d go and free the other divine beasts, he supposed. Wasn’t that what the girl had told him to do? He forgot her name again.

He forgot a lot of things.

“Link!” Sidon ran over to him, stopping him before he could make it to the bridge. He looked up, surprised, turning to face him.

“I suppose you are heading off for now- that’s alright. I would just like to let you know that you are always welcome in the Zora Domain, and we’d love to have you back here again. I must thank you once more for what you have done for our people-” Link calculated for a moment and then jumped up to give sidon a hug, his feet dangling five feet off of the ground. 

Sidon laughed a little, hugging him back and then setting him down.

“I hope to see you again.”

Link cleared his throat, managing to force out a tiny sentence.

“Me too.”

It did sound more like "Mm oo" but that wasn't important.

 ~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Link was practicing with speaking as he walked down the path to a stable. There were signs pointing him along the way, and also there was plenty of wildlife to look at as he made his way there.  

He stretched his arms up above his head, yawning, and then getting back to trying to talk. His voice still sounded odd- scratchy, strained, whiny, and forced. He assumed that part of this was the years of disuse his voice box had endured, but he really didn’t have a clue why his voice box would have deteriorated while the rest of his body had held up. 

He kept saying “My name is Link” repeatedly, given that it was possibly the most important sentence he could think of, but it kept coming out more like “Mmm nm z lenk.”

That wasn’t to mention that even if he could get a handle on pronouncing words, his mind still drew a complete blank around strangers. He would stress over talking like they did and not offending them or making them upset that he just… couldn’t. 

The only person he’d talked to was Sidon, and he’d said a grand total of three words to him. He had closed his eyes and was chanting “My name is Link” to himself repeatedly when he ran straight into a fence and tripped over it, falling face-first into the grass.

 He was at the stable.

Beedle was there, sitting out by the small cooking fire that was free to use for the guests. Link sat down in front of him, snapping his fingers to jolt him back awake.

“Ah! Hello there- Oh, it’s you! How have you been?”

“My name is Link.” He managed to pronounce it relatively well this time, but the Y and S sounds still weren’t coming out properly. The L also wasn’t exactly perfect.

“Your name is Ink?” Beedle asked, confused.

“Link.”

“Oh! Okay. Sorry. So, um, do you want to buy something, or do you need to sell, or-” Without a word, Link sat down and emptied his bag of everything he’d collected from his travels. He shoved the sparkling rocks towards him first- they were heavy and useless. But they were pretty, and he kept picking them up. Oops.

Link sorted out all of the items, scooping up handfuls of monster fangs to pass into the pile of what he was selling. He must have had something like eighty of the nasty things. 

“Wait. Is that… Is that an energetic rhino beetle?” Beedle asked, suddenly incredibly interested in the pile of small jars he’d collected to store live bugs for… honestly, he didn’t even know. He just thought fireflies were cute.

Link shrugged, not entirely certain of what he was talking about, but handing him the jar he was looking at. Beedle smiled so wide Link was almost scared, subtly scooting away.

“Thank you so so much! Here, have a, uh… here. It’s an elixir supposed to make you move faster.” Link pushed it away, shaking his head and trying to come up with some words.

“It, um, you… yours.” Link cringed at himself, biting his tongue so hard that he managed to make it bleed. 

“REALLY?” Beedle gasped, excited, lunging across the pile of stuff between them and giving Link a tight hug, causing him to laugh a little and then hug him back. Beedle sat back, opening up his backpack and then counting out the rupees for what Link had offered.

Link pocketed the rupees, not bothering to count. He pointed at the bag, beedle spreading out his wares in front of him. He grabbed a notebook, pencil, and picked up all of the arrows and then paid what Beedle said they costed, jamming them into his quiver and the notebook to his bag and then hefting himself up to his feet and waving goodbye. 

He pulled out the sheikah slate, checking the other three locations for the divine beasts. A volcano, an icy mountain, and a desert. 

Volcano was out of the question. He didn’t feel like getting  _ more  _ cold than he’d been in the Zora domain, either- so the desert, he supposed, was his last option. It was a long walk, but he could make it there in a few days. There were enough stables on the way for him to rest at one every night, so he planned to set off in the morning. 

Meanwhile, he went and sat behind the stable, where no one would be able to hear him. He started scribbling down words and phrases he’d probably need to be able to say on autopilot to complete strangers, things like “Hello”, “Yes”, “No”... things like that.  

So he sat, planning to practice speaking until the sun rose, endlessly cycling through his list of words and phrases.  

The goddamn  _ hero of hyrule _ couldn’t even talk to strangers. 

He sat for hours, trying to get the words right, and yet, when he still couldn’t, he mentally berated himself. He was able to talk in the past, if his childhood memories held true- so what had happened from then to now?

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_ Link skipped along through the forest, several different birds fastened to his belt. He knew that his mother would appreciate it, since she had been sick recently and his father was busy keeping monsters out of town. Titan was still at home, probably curled up in the cute little bed Link had made him. _

_ To be completely honest, he was getting a little too big for it. Titan, at first, had been a bit of an ironic name, but he was growing fast. Link would have to teach him to hunt and then set him free one day. He knew that. _

_ He didn’t want to know that. _

_ He hoped the birds would be enough for his family as well as Titan, truth be told- gathering enough food for a family of three was hard, but supporting a growing bear was a lot more difficult.  _

_ He might have to go out and hunt another doe down, but he always seemed to spook them before he got close enough to make the shot. He supposed he needed some practice with the bow and arrow.  _

_ He abruptly halted his gait as he entered the town and knew that something was horribly, horribly wrong. A usually bustling area was completely silent, and Link slowly, very slowly crept forward to his house.  _

_ Titan was there, sleeping in his bed. That was good. He went through the hallway to his parents’ bedroom, finding his mother lying down. Stone still. _

  _He approached her slowly, holding his breath before confirming his fears. She had a pool of blood that had spilled from her abdomen, Link’s breath hitching in his throat strangely._

_ And then he was aware of another person in the room. Link heard breathing, and it certainly wasn’t coming from his mother. He felt blinding rage rise in him, drawing his sword and turning to face whoever was in the room. _

  _A man. Wearing a mask._

  _It had the eye of the sheikah, which Link recognized from what his father taught him- but flipped upside down._

  _The eye of the Yiga._

_ Link knew that the scout had done it. His weapon was bloody- his mother’s blood, spilled, at the hands of this weak man. He had killed her in her sleep.  _

_ So Link, at the age of twelve, committed murder. _

 

_ He had left the man’s bloodied body in their bathroom, not wanting to leave it near his mother. He woke up Titan, and then he walked straight to the castle to find out the fate of his father. _

_ The guards from his father’s group were dead. Link was an orphan. _

_ Everything passed by in a blur from that point forward. Link was not just a fish out of water, he was some kind of blind sea snail that had been dumped into the center of a sandstorm. _

_ King Rhoam had consoled him, saying that his father had died a fighter, a warrior’s death, and served his kingdom to the very last moment. He’d been given access to a bath, and a change of clothes. _

_Titan had been set free, like he should have been all along._  

_ Link did not speak much, as the guards tried to determine what to do with him. He mostly sat in his room, staring at the door. Since he had no intentions of re-entering his house, they had given him a temporary place to stay.  _

_“Kid. Kiddo. Hey, there, we’ve got an idea for you.” An old friend of his father’s- practically Link’s uncle- walked into the room slowly and as non threatening as he could. Link didn’t acknowledge his presence. He just stared at the wall. “We can send you to the Zora domain, and then when you turn sixteen, you can come back here, and train like your father did. Like you always wanted to, remember? You’d tell us, all the time, that you wanted to grow up and be like us.”_  

_ Link nodded, once, without even listening to what he’d said. _

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Link did not allow himself to linger on the thoughts of the dream. 

He got up and started walking. He walked and walked, and didn’t turn back. If he looked back, he’d see the image of his mother lying in a pool of her own blood, and even if he didn’t truly remember her, it was an image he’d prefer not to see again.  

He spouted words, phrases, anything to get the horrible, empty feeling he’d been subjected to at twelve.  

He wished he had not remembered.

His feet were sore and felt like they were going to fall off by the time he realized he’d already made it past the three-day mark he’d set for himself the night before. He sighed, knowing it was too early to justify going to bed at this hour. And thus, he kept walking. And walking.

And walking.

It was honestly about two in the morning when he found the gerudo canyon stable. He’d head into the desert in the morning, but for now, he needed a bed. He slapped two red rupees on the counter and walked straight to one of the beds, falling on top of the covers and passing out, his dreams haunted by images of his mother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> see you in the next one!
> 
> shameless shoutout to my new tumblr blog: creamsiclecat
> 
> i do art and stuff. i literally just remade though so... its pretty empty


	6. He's so brave, and so fucking red

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning for some vulgarity in this chapter- i know there's been some in previous chapters, but this is enough that i'd actually warn people. so, y'know, be aware

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 3k words in one day. i do not have a life, but that is ok

He found out quickly that walking in the desert was going to be much harder than in the Zora domain.

While he wasn’t exactly a fan of the ankle-deep water, he’d kill for some right now. He had repositioned his hood so it covered his mouth and nose to avoid inhaling dust, but it kept slipping and falling. Wisely, he’d filled some jars with water, so he wasn’t exactly thirsty, but he’d like to not have to ration it out for himself.

He walked along a path that had been beaten down a bit, so the sand was a bit more dense, but he still sank with every footstep, inhibiting his speed greatly. 

His clothes, also, were made for more moderate climates, not the sandy pit of disappointment and sunburns he was currently traveling. 

He came across a small stop, with a few shops, but he could see Gerudo Town not too far in the distance, so he kept going. He really just wanted a nice bed to sleep in, and he didn’t think the stop had any inns. 

It was only a short walk to the town. Link noticed guards by the town entrance, expecting them to just be there to keep monsters out, but when he tried to walk through between them, he was promptly knocked down with the flat end of a spear. He twisted his ankle on the way down, landing face down in the sand. He pushed himself out of the sand, spitting some of it out of his mouth and shaking it out of his hair.

“What do you think you’re doing?” One of them asked him angrily, pointing her spear at him to make it clear that he was not permitted to come in. “Voe are not allowed into town. Go home.” 

Link blinked, furrowing his eyebrows. What was a voe? He carefully shifted himself to his feet, stumbling a little bit. He tried mimicking the word she’d said as best as he could, but “v” sounds were still challenging for him. Hopefully, she’d understand anyway. 

She sighed, glaring at him.

“Men, as they say in your language. Leave already.” Link turned around and walked back to the stop, his ribs aching and limping on his ankle. Hopefully, he hadn’t hurt it too badly. 

He sat down on a small stone bench when he arrived, pulling off his boot- His ankle was not horribly swollen as he feared it might be, it had simply twisted and upset itself. He sighed in relief, pulling up his shirt to view where the guard had hit him with the blunt side of the spear- no bruise yet, but he was sure one would form overnight. He sighed, pulling his shirt completely off- he was terribly overheated. 

He climbed up a ladder to the top of the structure, hoping to maybe see if there was anywhere else to stay. No one else was up there, so he sat down and dangled his feet off the edge, staring down at his torso. He traced the lines of his scars, wondering about the story behind each one, but he supposed he’d remember with time. 

He pulled out his notebook, reading through the words he needed practice on, grumbling as he realized just how shitty his handwriting was. He’d been able to read it last night, when he remembered writing all of it down, but now he was having to decipher every letter individually.

He wasn’t sure if it was the fault of losing some of the finer muscle movements in the shrine of resurrection or if one hundred years ago, he didn’t really prioritize writing.  

He sighed as he started writing out every letter he knew repeatedly, trying to get a handle on how his hand refused to cooperate with him.  

“Uhh…” A voice behind him jolted him out of his practice, looking up to see what they wanted. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you, this is just where I normally stay.” The girl said- she looked like the other gerudo, so Link wondered why she stayed up here instead of in the town. 

“My name is Villia.”

“My name is Link.” He was getting better, but the “is” still wasn’t coming out properly. Villia nodded, sitting down next to him and letting her feet hang off of the edge. She had a bag behind her, making him curious as to if she was selling anything. 

Like clothes that could withstand the desert sun and not make him melt into a puddle of sweat. He could use some of those.

Villia was looking at the scars on his chest, making him feel a little self conscious. He started reaching for his tunic, even if it was way too hot to wear it, but Villia stopped him. 

“Hold on. You’re trying to get into gerudo town, yes?”

Link nodded, blinking in confusion. How was she so good at guessing this?

“You see, I often get trans women coming in for help to have the guards let them in, but i’ve never met a trans boy who wanted to do that. Is there something you need in there?” 

Link stared at her as if she were speaking a different language. He opened his mouth, but he only managed to go, “Huh?”

Villia looked at him oddly, frowning.  

“Are you not trans?”

“What’s that? I- forgot… um, a-all my mem...memories.”

“You… huh? Wait, so…” Villia thought for a moment until a lightbulb went off in her head. “Hylian champion Link. Fell in battle one-hundred years ago and placed in the shrine of resurrection. My mother used to tell me the stories.” Link couldn’t see if she was smiling under her veil, waiting for her to explain what the words she’d said meant. She sighed. "Sorry, i'm just rambling. I'm sure that's not actually who you are-"

"You were right." Horribly pronounced, but it worked. Villia looked at him, shocked, then quickly composed herself. 

“So since you seemed to have forgotten… being trans just means that your parents said that you were one gender at birth, and you grew up and said you weren’t.”

_ Oh.  _

Well, that certainly explained why his parents had been calling him a girl in his memories. 

 

His parents.

 

He quickly switched his brain’s line of thought to something else, turning back to Villia. 

“Do you need some clothes for the heat? They can also let you sneak into Gerudo town, which I normally don’t encourage, but I suppose that you have something important to do in there.” Link nodded, smiling in thanks. Villia dug through her bag, holding up a few different colors to his face before deciding on a blue and green set.

She turned around, allowing him to change into them. He sighed in relief- it had a cover for his face that wouldn’t slip, like his hood had,  and it was much easier to tolerate the hot desert in them already. The metal caps on the tips of his shoes also looked like they’d be really fun to kick someone with.

Link paid Villia the amount she was due- 200 rupees- and then went back down the ladder. He looked around, for a campfire or something he could sleep by until sunset.  

He sat down on one of the stools by the cooking pot, warming his hands up as the sun fell- it was already getting cold.  

He had starting dozing off when a very wet nose pressed against his leg. He jumped a little, looking down at it- the nose belonged to a young puppy, tongue lolling out of its mouth. 

He reached down, petting its furry head, smiling a little under the veil. It had light brown fur, and darker ears and muzzle, as well as the tail tip, but then the feet were white. He had soulful dark brown eyes and was just about the most adorable thing he’d seen. A man’s voice came from behind him, surprising him. 

“He’s free to buy for fifty rupees. His mother had him and his litter three months ago, so he’s fine to leave her.” Link nodded, pulling out a purple rupee without hesitation. He loved animals, so taking one on his journeys was a good idea. He pulled the puppy into his lap, mentally experimenting with names. He considered Titan, a solute to his first pet, but it didn’t feel right. 

He stared at the dog, his mind drawing up a complete blank as he scratched behind his ears. He’d have to try again later. He’d just call him “pup” for now. Mentally, anyway. 

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

He woke up from his thankfully dreamless sleep, scooping up the tired puppy lying down next to him and nuzzling into his fur, smiling softly. He bought some seared meat from the lady at a stand, giving a good deal of it to the pup as he crammed the rest into his mouth as makeshift breakfast.  

Link made sure that the dog was following him as he walked along the path to gerudo town- Pup would often stray from the path to chase some birds, but he wasn’t straying far- Link assumed he didn’t want to get lost in the desert. 

He arrived at gerudo town, picking Pup up again, not wanting him to run off and bother others or lose himself in a street corner. Pup kept licking his face, making him giggle and pat his head to settle down. 

For now, he wanted to see just what was going on with Gerudo town. There wasn’t anyone to give him instructions, like Sidon had-

Sidon.

Why had his brain completely stopped in its tracks at the thought of him? Link shoved the fluttery feeling he got into the back of his head. Something else. He needed to think about something else. 

He walked straight into the first building he came across, which apparently served drinks. He thought this was a very good business move, especially in the desert. Pup squirmed in his arms to be let down, so Link set him on the ground but kept an eye on him to make sure he didn’t run off. He looked over the menu, then pointed to the drink he wanted- a “Noble Pursuit.” It sounded cool. 

He got a strange look from the woman at the counter, but she made the drink for him. 

“You’re aware this is alcoholic, correct?” She asked him, handing it across the counter.

Link nodded. He did not know what alcohol was, but he didn’t want to make himself look like an idiot. 

He went and sat in the tiny area they had for customers, Pup curling up on his lap. Link sipped on the drink, wincing at the strong taste, but not commenting on it.  

He finished it quickly, and when asked if he wanted another one, he just nodded. He’d gone through two or three when he realized he felt _really_ weird.  

After he’d finished his fourth, he was just staring at the wall. His head was spinning, and he couldn’t stop thinking about… fuck, what was his name again?

“He’s so brave. And so fucking red,” Link mumbled into his empty glass, eyelids drooping shut. “What the hell was his name?” Of course, that’s what he was  _ trying  _ to say. Everyone else heard a glorified jumble of syllables. 

He was offered a fifth, and he chugged it, almost missing the table to set the glass down. Why did he have two dogs? 

He suddenly lurched to his feet, slapping some amount of rupees on the counter-he was pretty sure he’d paid with two gold rupees-  and carrying the two pups with him. Conveniently, he also had four arms now, two for each pup.

“I’m gonna…. I’m gonna fucken save the world, pup. Check this shit out.” Link slurred, grinning like a madman- fortunately, no one could see that underneath his veil. He stumbled out of town, looking around. Who would be blessed with the presence of their future savior, Link… fuck, he was at least kind of sure he had a last name…

This man! He looked very sad. He was alone, and he did not have a dog. Link stumbled over to him, sitting down next to him in a way that was not whatsoever majestic.

“Oh, hello-” The man’s eyes widened when he saw Link, blinking rapidly. “Um, Hi, I’m, ah, Bozai.”

“M’name is Link,” He hiccuped, giggling. Pup jumped up, licking Bozai’s face.

“Who’s this?”

“Pup.” Link grinned at the little puppy, who wagged his tail. 

“They have an Inn, in the town, you know. You should probably go there.” Bozai said, sounding concerned as Link nodded vigorously. 

“Thankssssss,” Link said, scooping up Pup and then going back into town, stumbling towards the sign with a crescent moon on it, throwing a red rupee on the counter and then collapsing in one of the beds, passing out almost instantly. Pup curled up by his feet, falling asleep as well.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

  _Link pushed his hair out of his face- it was starting to fall past his ears again. He’d refused to let anyone come near him with a pair of scissors, so it remained a nuisance to him._  

_ His friend, Mipha, stood across from him, both of them breathing heavily. They had been practicing with their spearmanship, and as it turned out, they were a fairly equal match. _

_ “Ready for round two?” Mipha asked him, grinning- her sharp teeth sparkled in the moonlight. Link nodded, raising his spear and moving to strike Mipha on one side to get her to block and then quickly spun around, attacking her other side. They wore protective gear, so they couldn’t hurt each other seriously. Mipha jumped sideways away from him, twirling so that she was behind Link, attempting what could have been a killing blow with no gear- but Link whirled faster and rolled out of the way, knocking one of Mipha’s legs out from under her with the blunt end of his trident. _

_ She gasped, but used the lower ground to her advantage, spinning around and thrusting her trident up to knock Link off balance, causing him to stumble long enough for her to get back to her feet. Link grumbled, dodging the trident swinging for his head and finding it spinning back towards him- Mipha had predicted he’d move out of the way. He tried to dodge, but ended up putting his face directly in the way of the prongs- not Mipha’s intention.  _

_He clutched his face, feeling the two scratch marks where her spear had scraped along. They weren’t serious, but they did bleed a lot due to their location._  

_ Mipha dropped her trident with a clatter, rushing over to Link, kneeling by his side and prying his hands away from his face to see the damage she’d done. She sighed with relief, finding it was only minor, and she held her hand over his face, the telltale glowing shimmers knotting his skin together.  _

_ “I think we’re done practicing for tonight,” Mipha said, holding his healed face in her hands. _

_ “No we aren’t.” Link grumbled, pushing himself up and dusting off his clothes, holding out a hand to help Mipha up too. “We just need to be more careful.” _

_“Tomorrow.” She said firmly, Link sighing in defeat. Mipha gathered their tridents, hanging them up in weapon rack. They both undid the clasps on the gear over their clothes, hanging it up._  

_ Mipha walked alongside Link back to her room, sitting down on the foot of her bed- truthfully, she usually slept in the cistern, the bed was more for Link since they didn’t have a room for him right now after the incident a few youngsters had caused involving three fire chuchus and a lightning rod. _

_“I’m sorry for hurting your face.” She reminded him as he sat next to her. He shrugged, undoing his hair band and letting it clasp around his wrist._  

_ “Thanks for healing me.” He mumbled, staring down at his feet.  _

_ “It’s just… Link, you’re only fifteen, and you have so many scars…” She said, brushing her thumb over the ones she had left.  _

_ “I know. I’ll have many, many more when they send me off to the military training camp.” He sighed, leaning into Mipha’s touch. Mipha never liked to think about him leaving the domain- he’d been here for three years, and while she knew his life here was temporary, she liked to ignore that.  _

_“I promise i’ll write to you.” He said, tracing over Mipha’s scales on her arm._  

_ “Your handwriting is awful.” She teased, making him chuckle. _

_ “Don’t make fun of my handwriting, it’s sensitive.” He joked, pulling his boots off. He scooted back into his bed, shimmying under the covers as Mipha went to the nearby cistern.  _

_ They often would stay awake for hours and talk to each other like this, sharing stories of their early childhoods. _

_“Did you know I once adopted a baby bear and named it Titan?” Link asked her, grinning with fondness at the memory. Mipha laughed, shaking her head._  

_ “Well, I was hunting in the woods one day, and I managed to get a deer. Problem was, I was also walking my neighbor’s dogs, so I had to walk the dogs home AND drag the deer back, and then a mother bear tried to steal it. So I shot her, but then I found out that her cub was with her, and I felt so bad, and I had to take it home. So I was essentially juggling a fifty pound bear cub, two dogs, and a deer on the way home.” Mipha snorted, grinning with amusement. _

_ “How’d everyone react to that?” _

_ “My neighbors all just gave me weird looks, and my dad told me i’d have to… take, um, care of it on my own-” Link’s voice started to falter when he thought of his dad and the dark spiral that followed it. The Yiga had killed his whole village, spare for a few farm animals, and whatever guards there had also been annihilated. He only narrowly avoided the massacre. If he had come back just a little bit before- _

_ He’d be with his parents. _

_ “Link?” Mipha whispered gently. “Sweetheart, you’re crying.” Link felt a loud sob come from his throat, Mipha climbing out of the cistern to come to him. She pulled him down to sit on the floor with her so she wouldn’t get his bed wet, letting him rest his head on her shoulder as he tried to hold his sobs back. _

_ “Shhh, it’s okay, shhh.” Mipha said, rubbing his back and letting him lay his head in her lap. She leaned against the bedpost as he cried, running her fingers through his hair and cursing her healing power for not applying to emotional injuries as well.  _

 ~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Link’s head had just about set itself on fire as he woke up, groaning as he tried to shove himself up. The woman at the counter brought him a glass of water, helping him sit up.

“A tiny little vai like you shouldn’t drink so much alcohol. What happened to you? Come on, Romah’s listening. Who broke your heart?” Link knew that no one had broken his heart, but he cried anyway- what was one to do after a dream like the one he had? Pup curled up on his lap, licking some of the tears away. Link scratched the dog behind his ears, sighing as he managed to stop the flow of tears. “Was it that boy outside of town? I’ll have the guards beat him up, if you need-” Link shook his head, laughing a little at her suggestion.

“Well, i’ll let you go- but I really recommend drinking lots of water. Like, a lot of it.” Romah said, helping him stand. Link nodded, picking up Pup and then walking out, headed towards the throne room. 

He knew what he had to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> let me know ideas for the pup's name in the comments down below!!! both he and titan are going to be more important in future chapters, i promise. i just have hit a straight up roadblock coming up with names for the pup


	7. Knowing Is Half The Battle

Knowing, as it turns out, was half of the battle. The other half was a very, very angry monster kicking his ass into next week.  

He slapped the sheikah slate down on the control panel, his blood dripping onto the floor. He’d acquired a pretty nasty gash across his torso, and he had a nosebleed from tripping over his own foot and falling face-first onto the floor.  

“I don’t know how you managed to beat that thing while recovering from a hangover.” Urbosa said, chuckling dryly. “I suppose this is why you were up against Ganon himself.” Link smiled weakly, leaning on the control panel for support.

“When the time comes, I know you will be ready. I hope you will make use of my power- many call it Urbosa’s fury.” Link felt as his feet started to dematerialize, meaning he was being teleported back to gerudo town. “I know that you will not fail.”

He was sort of thankful he hadn’t thought to change into anything other than his gerudo gear, because he was teleported right into the middle of gerudo town. However, this also meant the huge gash on his chest was completely visible.

He pulled out his roll of bandages and wrapped them around himself, making sure to not put any tight ones over his ribs. He paid no mind to the women who stared at him, not sure if they should say something. 

He walked to the royal guard’s area first- he’d left Pup there, and apparently the guards had taken a liking to him. They complained when he had to be taken away, but insisted that they get to put on the harness they had made for him. 

“So, we know he doesn’t really have a name yet. But have you thought of any? Because we could add a little tag to the harness.” Link thought for a moment, trying to form the word in his mouth.

“At-las.” He pronounced slowly, looking down at his dog. One of the guards carved his name into the front of the harness, then beckoned Atlas towards her.

Atlas’ harness was beautiful. It was purple and had gold accents all over, as well as being adjustable for when he got bigger. It was clearly designed to keep him from getting injured in combat, as well as looking elegant. Link started digging through his bag to pay them for it, but they shook their heads when he offered them a gold rupee.

“Our pleasure.”

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Link walked back out of Gerudo town, Urbosa’s shield and sword strapped to his back. Atlas followed him, as a sandstorm was starting to brew. Link went past the stop, knowing that the canyon stable wasn’t too far ahead, even though it was starting to get hard to see.  

Actually, he could barely see four feet in front of him. He picked up Atlas, not wanting to lose him in the sandstorm. He looked behind him, realizing that he couldn’t see the stop behind him either. 

He would just have to keep moving forward.

He kept Atlas’ face pressed to his chest, not wanting him to breathe too much dirt. Link was grateful for the veil, but the wind kept blowing it out of the way. He forced his way forward, even though the sand kept shifting under his feet and he couldn’t even tell if he was making headway. 

He probably shouldn’t have done this, but he was too deep now to back out. He didn’t know if he could take Atlas with him via teleportation, and his sheikah slate was messing up anyway. The map feature was completely broken.

After stumbling around like an idiot for hours, he found the stable. The sandstorm had died down a bit, and Link was thankful for the chance to open one of his water bottles and drink the whole thing. He opened another one, holding it to Atlas’ mouth for him to lap it up as it fell out of the jar.

He shook most of the sand out of his hair, letting Atlas do the same before he changed into his regular clothes behind the stable. 

He set Atlas on the ground, then started heading back on the path to the Zora domain. He missed it, a lot.

He’d give Atlas treats every once in a while as he followed him, making sure to keep him engaged. Link didn’t want to confine him to a leash, but he also didn’t want to lose him. When he got to the Zora domain, he’d teach him some commands- he was not putting a twenty-pound untrained puppy anywhere close to a dangerous situation. 

Atlas had caught several rabbits, which Link tied onto the belt of his clothes. He was sure he could sell the ones he couldn't use for himself or for Atlas for a good amount.

He arrived at a stable, deciding to stay the night there. He got to work skinning the rabbits, slicing the meat up into cubes and then grilling them over the fire- this would have to be Atlas’ dog food. He stored the pieces in two of his empty water jars, then used the leftovers for him and Atlas to eat. 

“Link! Hey!” Beedle called him, grinning as he spotted the dog. “Who’s this little fella?” He asked, scratching Atlas behind the ears. 

“Atlas.” Link said, already managing to pronounce the name near perfectly. 

“Who’s a good boy?” Beedle laughed, giving Atlas a belly rub. “Is this a gerudo made harness? It's really high quality.” 

“Mhm.” Link replied, roasting some mushrooms over the fire. 

“I've been considering getting a dog or a mule to keep me company on my travels. A mule would certainly be helpful for carrying all my stuff around.” Link nodded, slicing up his mushrooms and storing them in another jar. He liked eating little cubes of food like this, since they were so full of flavor and easy to chew. Also, incredibly good for transport.

“You hungry?” He asked Beedle, gesturing to the jars of food around him. 

“Oh, no, i’m fine. But thanks.” Beedle responded, laughing a bit. “Where are you headed?” 

“Zora domain.” Link said, yawning. He was getting tired, fishing up two red rupees to go pay for a bed.

Atlas followed him as he handed the rupees to the man, pulling off his boots before curling up in the bed. Atlas jumped up, snuggling into his arms and licking his face. Link laughed, pushing his head away gently before falling asleep.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

_ “Liiiink~” Mipha’s voice was quiet, muffled by the layers of blankets over his head. “Wake up, Link…” Link grumbled, pulling his blankets tighter over his head. Mipha sighed dramatically, creeping her hand under the blanket. “The tickle monster… is coming to get you…” Link shrieked as Mipha let her fingers dance over his stomach, kicking all of his blankets off in an attempt to get away from her.  _

_ Mipha laughed at Link’s giggles, eventually stopping to let him get up.  _

_ “You can’t sleep through your sixteenth birthday!” She said, ruffling Link’s hair as he sat up.  _

_ “I want to.” Link mumbled, pushing his hair out of his face.  _

_ “It’s our last day together, Link. We can’t just sleep the day away. Let’s go take a walk.” _

_Link pulled his boots on, walking with Mipha through the Zora domain. He knew this place like the back of his hand- he’d made his home here for the past four years. And now, he was going to be moved to the military training camp at around three today._  

_ He was terrified.  _

_ He and Mipha were close friends, and by no means did he want to leave her. He promised to himself that he would visit her as often as he could, but he really didn’t know how often “often” would be.  _

_They took the bridge that led them to a wooded area, enjoying the scenery as they walked along the round path and talked._  

_ “Hold on. Mipha, check this out. Wait right there.” Link said, spotting a steep slope. He sprinted to the top of it, pulling his “shield” off of his back- it was actually just a pot lid. _

_“Link, what are you doing?” Mipha asked, concerned, quickly darting out of the way as he set his shield down and then hopped onto it, surfing down the slope. Mipha groaned as Link laughed maniacally, knowing that he’d inevitably run into something and break one of his limbs._  

 _Link, as she predicted, tried to surf over a rock, broke the pot lid in two, and then flew for ten or so feet before crashing to the ground._  

 _Mipha went over to him, a bit amused, propping him up against a tree so she could examine his injuries._  

_ He had numerous scrapes, a broken arm, a bloody nose, and a stupidly wide grin. _

_ “Link, seriously. You’ve gotta be more careful. Keep your head angled forward.” She instructed him, tilting his head forward and then pulling his arm into her lap. “I have to set this before I can heal it, you know. And it will hurt.”  _

_ Link shrugged, yelping when Mipha moved the bone into place, using his good hand to wipe some blood off of his face. _

_He felt the warm fuzziness that signified Mipha’s healing powers, leaning back to relax. Mipha pulled his head angled forward once more, not letting the blood get clogged in his nose, and Link saw something out of the corner of his eye._  

 _“Mipha.” He whispered, staring at the nine-foot tall bear that was standing up on its hind legs, only twenty feet away. “Mipha.” He said, more urgently this time, getting her to break her focus._  

 _“What is it? What hurts?”_  

_ “Look over there. Don’t act threatening,” Link said flatly, feeling his heart beat a mile a minute.  _

_ Mipha stared at the bear, eyes wide. They didn’t have any weapons, since they had only expected a simple walk. Link shifted to stand, testing his arm- it was done being healed. He stood in front of Mipha, glancing over the bear for any weak points before meeting its eyes. _

_ Link knew those eyes. The amber-brown, soulful eyes of a little bear cub called Titan. _

_ “Titan?” Link said gently, taking a step forward. The bear stared at him for a moment, seeming to recognize him. Link sat down about five feet from the bear, letting it come up to him and smell his hand. _

_ “It really is Titan.” Link breathed a sigh of relief as Titan licked his hand gently, letting Link stroke his head a bit. Mipha stared at the bear in shock.  _

_“How on earth would he have gotten all the way over here?"_  

_ “They said they released him somewhere far away from Hylians to avoid trouble. I’d say this counts. I wonder if he has kids!” Link said excitedly, standing back up to turn to Mipha. “I could be a grandfather.” Mipha chuckled, gesturing for him to follow her.  _

_ “We should head back to the domain.” She reminded him, starting to walk back the way they came from. “We’ve spent so much time here, they’re probably already there. Aren’t they taking you in a carriage or something?” _

_ “Wagon. Much less fancy,” Link corrected her, stretching his arms above his head and yawning. “...I’m going to miss you, you know.” _

_“I will too, Link.” Mipha smiled at him- Link supposed that part of the reason they had become such fast friends is because they were both ridiculously short. “I wanted to give you something before you go- there’s a Zora-made shield and sword in the armory optimal for Hylian use. I want you to stay safe.” She said, looking pointedly at his bloody nose._  

_ “Oh, shush. I’ll be fighting real enemies, not my own stupidity.” Mipha burst out laughing at that, containing it quickly. _

_ “Sure, sure. Just be careful. God forbid you have to fight someone else’s stupidity.” Link cracked up at that, and by the time they were back at the Zora domain the person hired to drive Link to the camp was very unamused by the fact that they were twenty minutes late due to “uncontrollable laughter.” _

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Link pushed himself out of bed, wobbling for a moment as his head spun. He needed to know. He had to go and check.

Atlas followed him out the door and towards the small pond, but Link hardly noticed. He had to know if these memories were real or just imaginary- it seemed plausible at first, but honestly? Who in Hyrule gets to pet a wild bear just because he took care of it when he was younger?

He went to the edge of the pond, sitting down and leaning over, inspecting his reflection until he found what he was looking for- three scratches down his face, from Mipha’s trident, made one-hundred years ago. 

He traced his fingers along the lines of the scars, staring into the pond. He was real, but so was Link from a hundred years ago.  

But that Link was gone. And this one had to bear the scars of a hero.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Congrats to irridated mouse for suggesting the winning name! I just love the name Atlas, and I was at a metallica concert last night and they performed "Atlas, Rise" so I ended up with the name stuck in my head. So here it is!! Thanks to all of the other name ideas, see you guys in the next chapter!


	8. Good Boy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for brief mentions of self-harm and some bullying.

Link knew he should probably catch himself a horse, since his legs ached from walking from morning to night every day. He was sure Atlas was starting to be in the same situation, although Link often picked him up to carry him for a little while when he started getting tired. 

There was a stable a bit away, so there would likely be wild horses nearby. Link heard a scuffle in the dirt, and looked over to find Atlas proudly holding a blue heron in his mouth. Link smiled, holding out his hand and allowing Atlas to drop it before tying it to his belt. He scratched him behind the ears, then continued walking.  

He spotted the stable, evaluating for a moment. It was only noon, so he had plenty of time to continue walking, but he’d rather not walk in afternoon heat, and Atlas could use another training session.

He opened up one of his water jars, taking a sip before offering some to Atlas. Atlas stuck his tongue down the jar and managed to get some into his mouth, Link snickering a little. 

“Hello, young man!” Someone shouted at him, from beside the road. “Step right up and buy ‘em!” Link figured he might as well stop by and see what the man was selling. 

Link pulled out his pouch of rupees, approaching the man. “Bananas, bananas! All you can eat!” Link had no clue what those were, so he might as well buy some and try them. 

“Just ninety-nine rupees for one!” Link blinked, confused- fruits usually only sold for ten rupees at most. This was probably a scam. “Or… your life!” Link blinked rapidly as the man transformed, reaching for his weapon quickly when he saw the mask.

He’d had to infiltrate the base of the Yiga clan. He didn’t remember much of it, but he knew that there had been a lot of bodies when he left. 

Link still was not quite a majestic fighter- he often tripped and fell, and fights were so overwhelming that his brain was too overwhelmed to plan any strategies. He watched as the man’s weapon swung towards him, and he just barely managed to jump backwards out of the way. The Yiga soldier shoved him to the ground instead, pinning his hands down by stepping on them, and raising his weapon to cleave it through Link’s heart.

Atlas leapt at the man, sinking his teeth into the man’s wrist and holding on. Link took the opportunity to scramble free, drawing his sword and running it through the man crouched over him. 

Link stared with horror as the man slumped down, his body falling onto him. He shoved the limp form off of him, pulling the sword from his corpse and timidly patting Atlas’ head.

“Good boy,” He whispered, drawing in a shaky breath. He wiped the blood off of the sword in the grass- he’d managed to keep his Zora sword in pretty good condition, and he hadn’t used it too much.

He sheathed the sword, staring at the man. He didn’t know what he was supposed to do with the body- should he just leave it?

He dragged it a little bit away from the path, as to not terrify innocent passerby, then started walking back on the path to the stable. Atlas seemed to sense Link’s mood, keeping his pace slow to match Link’s and sticking close to him.

He sat down by the campfire, getting Atlas’ attention. He guessed he’d start with the sit command, as it could be most useful. 

Then came the long process of training Atlas how to recognize the command and actually follow it, but by the end of the day he’d managed to teach Atlas to sit whenever he commanded it. He curled up by the campfire, not bothering to buy a bed- he didn’t want to stand up and walk over to the counter- so he remained by the fire and slept. 

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~ 

_ Link wasn’t really “getting along” with the other guards-in-training.  _

_ They’d convince him to do increasingly stupid things just to laugh at him when he got fed up, did them, and then promptly got punished for it. He’d been convinced to climb to the very top of the castle, steal food from the kitchens, and other equally ridiculous activities. He’d been shoved, kicked, and knocked around by the other boys- he tried to report them, but no one ever did anything about it. _

_“Hey, blondie! Go try to pull out the Master sword. I want to see it incinerate you.” Rick laughed, his friends joining in._  

_ “Ooh, yeah. An Ink-shaped pile of ash. At least, that’s what he says his name is, right?” _

_ “It’s Link.” He mumbled angrily, trying to eat his lunch and write a letter in peace. _

_ “What’s on your wrist?” Rick asked, grabbing his hand and prying his arm around to stare at it. Link yanked it away, ashamed of the fresh scars.  _

_ “Are you missin’ your girlfriend back from the fish people? Is that what’s happening? Ooh, go swim around in the lake. I wanna see you swim like a Zora.” Thompson said, leaning over and setting his elbows on the table. “Tell me, how’d you even get a girl to like a skinny little twig like you? Must have been quite the desperate slut to date you.” He continued. _

_ “Don’t talk about her like that!” He said, slamming his hand over the letter he’d been writing as he was eating. _

_ “Oooh, a love letter. Let’s see if you’re as articulate in writing as you are verbally,” Thompson snickered, snatching the letter away from him. “Dearest Mipha- I’ve been doing alright at the training camp. The captain seems to get along with me fine. I miss you a lot, but i’m hoping i’ll be able to visit soon-” _

_“Give it back!” He shouted, reaching for it. James took it from Thompson, ripping it up into a bunch of tiny pieces. He felt tears stinging his eyes, clenching his fists together._  

 _“You’re all a bunch of dicks.” Link spat, trying to gather all the scraps up._  

_ “Ooh, nice one. Very original insult.” Rick laughed, continuing. “You kiss your mother with that mouth? Oh, sorry- I forgot she’s dead and you’re a miserable little orphan.” _

_ Link drew the sword from his back, practically snarling with madness.  _

_“Come on, short-stack. The master sword’s just right over there, you should get it instead of that dinky little sword. Maybe then you’d be an actual threat- or just a pile of ash.” Link could feel his temperature rising from his anger, breathing deeply for a few seconds._  

_ “Ooh, he’s angry, boys!” James yelled, laughing louder. “Come on, just go touch it. Do it!” Link shoved himself up, stepping over the bench and walking towards the platform the master sword was embedded in. He knew it would kill him, but at least he wouldn’t have to listen to these idiots anymore. _

_ “He’s gonna do it!” James yelled, getting everyone in the room’s attention. Everyone stared in silence as Link walked right up to the platform, stepping up onto it. As the three boys realized Link was actually about to do it, they fell silent as well. _

_ Link inhaled deeply, wrapping both of his hands around the handle, a little shocked when he didn’t die on the spot. He kept pulling upwards, clenching his teeth and glancing over to where the three boys stood with their jaws dropped. He pulled up once more and then the master sword was out. _

_ Truth be told, Link was just as confused as everyone else. _

_ “Holy shit.” Rick said, taking a step backward as Link stared at the three of them. Somehow, he knew they wouldn’t be bothering him any more. _

_“Oh, for the love of Hylia, who tried to pull out the sword this ti-” The guard captain stopped in his tracks as he walked into the room, staring at Link, who now held the glowing sword in his hands. “Come with me, Link. Now.” Link nodded, trailing behind the captain silently. No one said anything as they walked out the door._  

_ “I should have known it was you. We’re going to go talk to the king. Now you’ll definitely be Zelda’s appointed knight, but I don’t know what else this means for you.” He sighed, looking at Link. “I’m taking you to the king. Just don’t say anything stupid.” _

_ Link nodded, following the captain into the throne room, where the King looked up, almost bored, until he saw the sword.  _

_“Well then,” He said, clearing his throat. “What have we here?”_  

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Link shoved himself up, shaking the dirt out of his hair. He could still feel the tightness from anger in his chest, but he tried to shove it down.

“You have some kind of nightmare?” Someone on one of the benches asked him. “You seemed to get real angry in your sleep.” Link shrugged, petting Atlas’ head gently to wake him up.

Link stood and started walking, Atlas following him at a trot. He was only one stable away from the Zora domain- he’d pause for a meal at the last one and then go the rest of the way. And meet Sidon again. He felt his stomach do a flip again, smiling a little to himself.

So brave, and so fucking red, as drunk him had put it.

He sold the bird Atlas had caught to a traveling merchant at the stable before he left, then kept walking along. There was a long walk between the two stables, which was fine- it gave Link time to himself and his thoughts. 

After he’d walked for a while- he could no longer see the stable behind him- he started jogging. There was no real point in walking slowly, and it was good exercise anyway. 

He sometimes found comfort running his fingers over the scars on his body- the horizontal ones on his wrists and thighs, the trident marks on his face, the two bite marks which he assumed were from a keese on his shoulder, the surgical scars on his chest, the new one across his stomach, and numerous others. 

He walked up to the stable, realized he wasn’t hungry, and kept walking. It was a simple walk to the Zora domain from here, so he started running. 

He could not wait to be home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise Link will get to see Sidon next chapter and i'll get some more stuff moving forward, this was kind of a filler chapter to get where I needed to be in the story.


	9. Chopsticks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that this took awhile to write!! I've been packing for an upcoming vacation, so I haven't had much time to write- speaking of which, the vacation will be two weeks long, but I promise I'll come back with updates!! I can access my writing program while there, but unfortunately not ao3 :( on the bright side i'll have like 20k words done when I come back, lol

Link clutched his sides, wheezing and trying to catch his breath. He had run with Atlas as fast as he could for a good five minutes until his lungs gave out. He could feel that his ribs were curved inwards oddly, as if they had been compressed at the top- it probably had to do something with the fact that he was often short of breath.

He scratched Atlas behind the ears, looking at a small herd of wild horses. He always loved to observe wild animals when they weren’t yet aware of his presence. He often was disappointed when they spotted him and ran away- or, worse, if they charged him.

He clasped his hands behind his back, stretching out his back- he really needed to knead out the knots in his muscles. He stretched his legs out and then started running again, grinning as Atlas chased him. The pup was already starting to get bigger- He’d been halfway up Link’s shin when he got him, and he’d already gotten almost up to his knee. 

Link spotted a bokoblin-built fort, halting immediately. There were six red ones as well as a blue one- a camp full of minor nuisances, at best. He climbed a tree and hoisted his bow off of his back, pulling an arrow out of his quiver. He’d need to buy more as soon as possible- he was starting to run low. Many of them were covered in blood from having to reuse them.

He nocked an arrow, aiming for the blue bokoblin first. Atlas sat by the base of the tree, then as soon as Link let the arrow fly, charged into the camp. The arrow lodged itself through the chest of the blue bokoblin, the others realizing what was happening as Atlas launched himself at one of the bokoblins.

Link leapt from the tree quickly, unsheathing his Zora sword and keeping the other bokoblins away from Atlas, who had thoroughly torn apart one of their faces.

_ Gross,  _ Link thought to himself, wiping the blood from his sword off in the grass. Bokoblins smelled awful, and it didn’t quite help when you split them open. 

On the plus side, he could see zora bridges and lanterns a little bit further along the path. He was very, very close. 

He carefully stepped across some slippery rocks, waiting for Atlas to carefully make his way across as well, then took off at a full sprint towards the zora bridges. He slipped and caught himself on the railings a few times- the bridges were slippery- and Link felt his heart pounding as he reached the great Zora bridge. 

He slowed down as he stepped into the ankle-deep water that flowed through pathways in the Zora domain. He could use a bath, surely- it’d been at least a week since he’d had one, and the Zora had very extravagant bathtubs- but he figured he’d wait a bit. He wanted to see someone first.

He made sure Atlas was following him, then started heading up to the throne room, where Sidon was often found. He could hear the pitter-patter of Atlas’ footsteps falling in the water behind him as he jumped up the steps to the throne room. 

“The king isn’t accepting visitors righ- Oh, Link! Hello!” Sidon grinned, waving. “Are you in need of a place to stay?”

Link nodded, smiling back at Sidon. He could feel the tips of his ears heating up- he assumed it was because it was cold in the Zora domain- and followed Sidon as he led him out of the throne room. 

“And who’s this?” Sidon asked, looking behind Link at Atlas.  

“Atlas.” Link replied, finally mastering how to say his dog’s name- now, if he could do that with his own, that’d be great.

“Lovely name,” Sidon praised Atlas, earning a tail wag in response. “His harness is beautiful, as well. Where did you get it?” 

“Gerudo guards made it.” He mumbled, trying to hide how badly he pronounced the “G” noise. Sidon nodded, reaching down to scratch Atlas’ head.

“You seem tired. I’ll escort you to a room, and we can talk in the morning.” Link nodded, appreciating the offer. He’d made it to the Zora domain finally, but it was already getting dark.

Sidon opened the door for Link- it was the same room he’d stayed in last time, but it was a bit cleaner and had some more things in it. Link supposed this was “his” room now, but he didn’t feel like asking.

“Thank you,” He mumbled to Sidon, slipping into the room and waiting for Atlas to enter before he heard the door click shut behind him.

Link knew that the remains of the village he grew up in were probably still around, but the domain felt so much more like  _ home.  _ He supposed it was because of Mipha, since she hadn’t left him any bad memories. 

He started filling up the bathtub that had been provided for him, pulling off his shoes and setting them down by his bed. Atlas sniffed at the clothing items he dropped on the floor, then turned and jumped up onto the bed, curling up and falling asleep. 

Link let his hair down, discarding the gross hair tie on his dresser- he’d need a new one. The one he’d been using was covered in dust, sweat, blood, and whatever else Link ended up getting in his hair. 

The bathtub was almost done filling, so Link stepped into it and slowly slid into it. He could feel the dirt already starting to separate from his skin, so he turned the water off and ducked under the surface. The tub was designed for a Zora, most of which were much bigger than him, so he had plenty of room.

He blew bubbles out from his nose, then resurfaced and took a deep breath. He reached for one of the jars of soap that had been left on the side of the tub, pouring a good deal of it into his hand and rubbing it over himself, feeling the rough patches of scar tissue all over his abdomen.

He checked out the scar he’d obtained from the fight with thunderblight ganon, seeing that it was healing nicely. He poured some of the soap into his hands again, rubbing it into his scalp and running it through his hair. He loved the way it frothed under his fingers and covered his hands in bubbles, ducking under the surface to get all of the suds off of his body.

He really did love the water. It was so much more welcoming than the cold air, but unfortunately, he wasn’t a Zora. He had to come back up to breathe. 

He climbed out of the tub in search of a towel, then came face-to-face with a mirror.

He’d only seen reflections of himself in a pond’s rippling waters, not a clear, still image of himself. He was a little jarred from how clear the image was, stepping towards it. 

He could see the three trident marks on his face, as well as some freckles that he assumed he got from being outside so often. He had a light sunburn over his cheeks and nose. He looked into his own eyes, unable to pinpoint the color. 

He rolled his head back, inspecting his neck for any scars. He had a few, but not as many as his torso did. 

His ribs looked a lot weirder than he’d seen just from looking down at them, and his hips were certainly a bit wider than he’d thought they were. He didn’t have as much muscle as he’d come into the world with- it seemed he hadn’t really been using it as much as he used to- and his hair was starting to get even longer. 

He swung his arms around experimentally, observing how his muscles moved together. He turned around so his back faced the mirror, craning his head around to observe the scars on his back. 

He stood up on his tippy toes, balancing on one foot and holding his arms out for balance before remembering he’d wanted to get a towel.

He opened the door to a closet, sorting through whatever was left in there for him- mostly robes and such that wouldn’t fit him, as well as the zora armor that he’d left here- to find the towel folded neatly on the bottom. He unfolded it, wrapping it around himself and wiping off the water from his skin, then folding it and leaving it by the tub.   


He dumped his clothes in the bath water, soaking them through and then leaving them on the side of the now-empty tub to dry. He shook out his underwear, putting them on and then sorting through his backpack to figure out what would make a decent snack before he went to bed.

 ~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

_ “We should go to Zora’s domain. We need to recruit champions to man the divine beasts, and I think getting the Zora out of the way first would be a good idea.” _

_Link nodded to Zelda’s suggestion, stretching his arms above his head and yawning. He was deathly tired- he’d been woken up at five every morning for the past few weeks._  

 _“If my memory serves me… you spent much of your childhood at the Zora domain, yes?” Link blinked at Zelda, shrugging._  

_ “Uh, yeah.” He mumbled.  _

_ “Do you happen to know any possible candidates for the role of Zora champion?” Zelda asked, mounting her horse. Link climbed into the saddle of his as well, shrugging again. He definitely had an idea, but he didn’t really want to influence Zelda’s decisions.  _

_ Or talk to her, really. He was horrendously awkward around everyone, especially new people. Zelda seemed frustrated by this, as she clearly wanted someone to talk to about her research, but he was completely incapable of coming up with responses other than “Um” and “Okay”. _

_ “Well, let’s go.” She said, kicking in her heels to the horses’ middle, Link following behind her. _

_They rode along the path, Link letting himself close his eyes and let the horse do the pathfinding for him. He dozed in and out of sleep, listening to Zelda speak about her plans. Not a single word of hers actually registered in his brain, but that wasn’t entirely important._  

_ “Link? Link!” She shouted, snapping him back to attention. Apparently, they had arrived. _

_ “I didn’t even realize you’d fallen asleep,” She chuckled, waiting for him to dismount his horse. Zelda walked across the zora bridge with Link trailing behind about five feet away, as the princess strode confidently towards the throne room.  _

_ Link glanced around at the Zora around them- most of them, he recognized. He assumed Mipha would be in the throne room with her father. Link inhaled the chilly, humid air of the Zora domain- he loved this place dearly.  _

_It was nearing winter, so there were some spots where small amounts of ice had frozen over the surface of the water. He remembered jumping around and smashing the sheets of ice deeper into the winter with Mipha when they were younger, smiling fondly at the memory._  

_ Zelda didn’t seem to like this place as much as he did. She was on the part of the walkway that didn’t have water flowing along on it, avoiding getting her shoes wet. _

_Link followed her up the steps to the throne room, Zelda striding directly up to the platform where she could talk to King Dorephan._  

_ Mipha quietly walked from her spot next to her father’s throne, going towards Link. Zelda and the King spoke while Mipha and Link started to catch up. _

_“What on earth are you doing with the princess of Hyrule?” Mipha asked him incredulously._  

_ “Uh, it’s sort of a long story. I couldn’t write you about it since i’ve been so busy, but I kind of pulled the master sword out of its pedestal.”  _

_ “You kind of… what?” _

_ “That’s not important. I’m sorry for not writing you more, some people were tearing up the letters I was trying to write to you. I didn’t really get along with all of the other trainees.” _

_ “No worries. You’re here now, aren’t you? I have a gift for you, do you think we can leave Zelda here to talk to my father and she won’t notice?” _

_ “I should probably ask. She gets mad at me really easily, I think.” Mipha nodded, striding up behind Zelda and waiting to be addressed. _

_ “King Dorephan, I would request some assistance in making sure Calamity Ganon cannot overtake Hyrule. I’ve come here to look fo-” Zelda jumped as Mipha cleared her throat, clearly startled. _

_ “Sorry to interrupt, your highness,” Mipha said, bowing her head gently before continuing. “But do you think I could borrow Link from you for a bit?” _

_ “S-sure?” Zelda uncertainly stated, confused. Mipha nodded, turning back to Link and escorting him out of the room to her private quarters. _

_ “So, um, Link…” She started, opening a box by her bed. “I made this for you. It took me a really long time, so I hope you like it.” She pulled whatever it was out of the box, unfolding it and then presenting it to Link. _

_ He blinked rapidly, figuring out what it was almost instantly. He gasped, gently reaching out to take it from Mipha’s hands- it was armor, it wouldn’t break, he knew, but still. Something like this was invaluable.  _

_ He looked back up at Mipha, wide-eyed. He could feel a warm feeling all throughout his chest, setting the armor down on a dresser and pulling Mipha into a hug. _

_ She’d gotten taller than him already, which was unfortunate, but he didn’t mind so much.  _

_ “Link!” Zelda shouted, throwing the door open before stuttering a bit. “Oh, am I- ah, sorry.” She retreated out of the door, Link sighing.  _

_ “Just a moment,” He whispered to Mipha, opening the door again and waiting for Zelda to state what she wanted. _

 ~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Link was conflicted.

He knew that in his memories, he definitely loved Mipha- and he certainly didn’t hate her now- but he didn’t feel like he used to. He certainly regarded memories of her that he remembered with fondness, and seeing her statue often made him happy, but quite frankly- he didn’t get that warm, fuzzy feeling he got in the memories.

He yawned, pushing himself up. His hair had tangled in his sleep since it was so wet when he went to bed, but he didn’t think the zora would have any combs handy. They didn’t exactly have hair.

He searched through his bag to find Atlas’ food, dumping a portion into his hand and then leaving it in front of Atlas’ nose for when he woke up. 

He then started untangling his now-dry hair from the small knots it had tangled itself into, thankful that it had been washed the night before- he was sure it had been full of sand the night before.

He evaluated the clothes he’d left to dry, but they were cold and damp still. He opened the wardrobe of clothes left for him, surprised to find that they were around his size. They must have used the Zora armor Mipha crafted as reference.

He pulled on a soft cotton shirt that went to his elbows and some shorts that were incredibly comfortable. They had left socks for him, which were a tad too big, but he found no real reason to complain as the boots he had would keep them on.

He didn’t have any hair-ties, so he was a little stumped on how to keep his hair out of his face. He sorted through his backpack for anything that might work, only coming up with a pair of chopsticks he’d stolen on accident as something clean enough to put in his hair. He’d sworn he had seen people wearing their hair up with these, but he wasn’t sure how.

An idea popped into his head.

He’d had long hair one-hundred years ago, so surely he might just have the muscle memory to put it up with chopsticks. He’d fought entire camps of enemies via muscle memory, surely just some chopsticks would work! 

Indeed, his hands knew how to twist his hair up into a bun, tightly secured by the stick speared through it. He grinned in delight, looking over at the mirror- he hadn’t quite gotten all of the hair, but he’d gotten enough that it was out of his face.

He heard a knock on the door.

Atlas’ head perked up, but he noticed the food in front of him and ate it, leaving Link to answer the door.

He opened it, looking at the Zora at the door. 

“Prince Sidon has requested to see you. He’s over by Lady Mipha’s statue when you are ready to speak with him.” The zora guard bowed, then left.  

Link closed the door, turning to pet Atlas. He rolled over for a belly rub, Link gladly providing one, then picking him up and walking out the door. 

Atlas had so much to learn about the Zora domain- and Link had much to relearn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> link is made of pure, concentrated sunshine. 
> 
> When I get back from vacation, i think i'll have the update schedule of wednesdays and saturdays coming out with updates. writing mostly daily was starting to get hard, so hopefully having more time to write and edit will lead to better quality and longer chapters. see you all in the next one!!


	10. Carrot Soup

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all of the comments and kudos while I was gone! Conveniently, I got back on the day of the update schedule, so that's being put into place now. Also, I thought that 20k words would be a huge exaggeration for me... lol, ended up writing 23k while i was gone. Anyway, enjoy this update! Please note there is some mild gore. I managed to skip over most of the truly graphic things. (Side note... tell me if I missed a typo, because my phone's autocorrect kept trying to turn "Sidon" into "Tender." ??????)

“Link! I didn’t get to ask you yesterday, but what might we owe this visit to?” Sidon inquired, turning to him as he heard him approach.

“I missed the water.” Link stated simply, relishing the feeling of cool water rain falling on his forehead. It was sprinkling gently in the Zora domain- nothing like the heavy downpour that constantly came down before Vah Ruta was calmed.

“Ah. Well, we are in no shortage of water here, so you are free to enjoy it as you please.” Sidon remarked jokingly, adjusting his collar slightly. “We have plans for a celebration of sorts tonight, to congratulate your bravery in calming Vah Ruta and saving the domain.”

“T-that won’t, um, be necessary-” Link spluttered, not wanting to inconvenience anyone. “I- I only did-”

“Nonsense! I insist. The plans have already been made.” Sidon said, waving his hand to dismiss Link’s complaints.

“I- okay,” He mumbled.

“You won't be expected to do anything, of course- however, it’d be nice if you wore the Zora armor. I know Laflat has her hands on some greaves and the helmet that goes with it has to be somewhere, if you’d like to use those as well.” Sidon informed him, gesturing in the direction of where Laflat usually stood.

“I might do that,” Link nodded, blinking away a drop of water that hit his eye. 

“How long will you be staying with us?” Sidon asked, Link pondering for a moment.

“A few days. I need to, uh-” Link felt his voice get caught in his throat, cursing himself as he tried to finish the sentence.

“Free the other divine beasts?” Sidon finished for him.

“Yeah. That.” Link stuttered, feeling the tips of his ears heat up in embarrassment.

“You don't have to force yourself to talk, Link.” Sidon said, only loud enough for Link to hear.

“I- I know, it just feels like… nevermindillgo.” Link blended his last words together accidentally, turning on his heel and hearing the splashes of Atlas’ footsteps behind him. He just- he didn’t  _ know.  _ He didn’t know what he wanted, which made it even harder to be happy.

He felt Sidon staring at the back of his head as he shuffled away, taking a side route out from the Zora domain. He could kill some time before the festival to calm down, and sort out his feelings.

He walked along a path his feet knew, but his mind could not recall. There was a stream nearby that he could hear trickling along, the rain starting to fall a bit more heavily. Lizards and frogs were dotted along the trees and the stream’s bank, out as long as the rain would last.

He sat down at the base of a tree, Atlas curling up at his side. Closing his eyes, he tried to think of a solution to… this. He wanted to go places, see things, but he didn’t know what places he wanted to go or what things he wanted to see.

He knew Impa had told him to visit Purah in Hateno village, where Purah could enhance his sheikah slate.

Or, he could head to great Hyrule forest. King Dorephan- his thoughts were interrupted by a snicker- had told him that the master sword was deep within it.

He could go to Rito village, or Goron City. And after that….

He would fight Ganon?

He would need to master sword to do that, certainly, so perhaps he should go to great hyrule forest soon. But the Master Sword did lead to a different problem- did it still count him as the same hero from one hundred years ago, or would he die the instant he touched it?

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

_ “Stop following me!” Zelda shouted, whirling around on him with her fists clenched. “I can take care of myself.” She snarled, clearly stressed from working so hard on her research. _

_ “I-” Link started, realizing he didn't really have much of a response to that.  _

_ “Why can you never explain to me what you’re thinking about?” Zelda spat, sitting down at her desk. “You probably haven't had a hard day in your life. You can just go home into your parent’s loving arms with no responsibilities-” Zelda snapped her mouth shut, not letting her feelings about her father spill from her mouth. “Would you just leave me alone? I’m busy. I don’t need you here.” _

_ Link stared at her, a little shocked, before turning around and taking hold of the door handle to let himself out. _

_ “I- sorry, wait.” Link turned back around, bracing himself to get yelled at again, before Zelda continued. “My anger gets away from me sometimes.” _

_ “It's fine.” Link mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck.  _

_ Zelda nodded, turning back to her desk. “I can… share what I've been working on, if you would like.” _

_ “Okay,” Link said, approaching Zelda’s desk, looking at the tablet she held in her hands. _

_ “We’ve found this through our research. We’re calling it a sheikah slate. Because it's a slate made by the Sheikah.” Link looked at her oddly, making her sigh. “I did not name it. But look, it takes pictures! Check it out.” She said, aiming it at Link and snapping a wide-eyed picture of him. “It doesn't require any artistic skill to make one of these… it's mind boggling.” _

_ “What else does it do?” Link asked, watching Zelda’s face light up as she could explain all of the other functions. _

_ “Well, it has two remote bombs, which I'm not going to demonstrate in here. Then it has magnesis.” She hit a button on the slate, then started using it to levitate a paperweight in between them. “And then- Stasis!” The paperweight froze between them, Zelda flicking it away from them a few times and then watching as it fell in the direction she’d directed it. _

_ “And then there’s Cryonis, which freezes water, and that's it!” She exclaimed, proud of herself. _

_ “Can I see it for a second?” Zelda handed it to him, and he opened up the album and deleted the picture Zelda had taken of him. _

_ “Oh, come on.”  _

_ ~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~ _

He heard Atlas whimper, opening his eyes hazily. He might be hungry, so he started reaching for his backpack when he realized none of his belongings were with him. 

He had taken them with him though- why were they suddenly gone? He started trying to get up to look for them- it was possible that they had rolled away- why were his hands tied together?

“It’s been a long time since I've seen you, Link.” a voice whispered into his ear- a chillingly familiar voice, accompanied by a cold blade to his throat.

He was trapped. There was no way he'd get out of this one- he knew he'd wake up again uninjured as he'd learned when a bokoblin had killed him on the great plateau, but he really preferred to not get his throat sliced open. 

He felt the blade starting to dig into his neck, slowly and deliberately- whoever was behind it clearly wanted to make him feel pain before he died. Link looked down at Atlas, gesturing for him to run- and then the blade was suddenly yanked from his throat with the sound of a roar.

Link raised his hand to his throat to stop the bleeding, standing up and whirling around to see what had happened. His vision was blurry from tears that had formed in his eyes- all he could see was blue flames and a lot of movement.

His eyes cleared up, and he managed to see what was actually happening- Titan- or rather his spirit- had knocked the man away from him to give Link a chance to fight back.

Titan faded out of sight as the man started struggling to get to his feet, but Link pinned him down quickly, not sure what to do. He managed to slip the rope off from his hands, tossing it to the side.

He made sure his legs sufficiently kept the man’s arms down, peeling off his mask to see his face.

_ “I’m going to kill you.” James snarled- he'd seen better days, clearly. He had been kicked out from the royal guard but refused to leave Link alone. He had unshaved stubble and cracks all over his lips that were probably bleeding, and his eyes were veiny and bloodshot. _

_ Link sidestepped him, rolling his eyes- he knew he was capable of defending himself, easily. The princess would be here in a few minutes, anyway- and then he could get away from James. _

_ James shoved himself back in Link’s face, pushing him into the wall and pinning him by the throat.  _

_ “Listen up, you little bitch-” He was cut off by the sound of a door slamming against the wall to reveal an infuriated Zelda. _

_ “I thought I heard the guards say you’d gone in here,” She said, yanking James away from Link by the collar of his shirt. “I thought you were told to never come to the castle again.” _

_ Link looked down at James, laughing a little- it sure did feel nice to not have to deal with him by himself.  _

_ James glanced between the two of them, a scowl on his face as he picked himself up and started walking to the door, glancing back at Link threateningly.  _

_ “I will kill you. One day. Mark my words,” he muttered, slamming the door behind him. _

“James?” Link knew the answer to his question already. The member of the Yiga clan that had attempted to kill him was James.

He’d aged quite a bit- his hair was grey and his face was quite wrinkled- Link suspected his life force was fueled simply by the desire to kill Link.

James struggled to get free as Link pulled the rope back towards him, tying James’ hands and legs together. Link didn't have the heart to kill him- but he could certainly leave him tied up in a tree for a while. 

Link managed to bundle him up quite securely to the tree, as James spat curses. Atlas was licking James’ ankles, which Link was incredibly amused by, but he did have to head back to the Zora domain.

He snapped his fingers to get Atlas’ attention, starting to walk back to the Zora domain. He wanted to be able to enjoy his night without wondering if someone was going to attack him.

Well, not necessarily enjoy- he was still concerned that he'd be horrendously awkward when people asked him questions, but that sounded infinitely better than almost getting murdered and then being saved by the spirit of a bear who he'd killed the mother of over one hundred years ago.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

 

_ “You’ll have to work on getting along with Revali,” Zelda sighed, looking at Link’s bandaged eye that Mipha had refused to heal.  _

_ “It's not my fault that he's a dick and he pecked me in the eye.” Link grumbled, earning a glare from Mipha. _

_ “You egged him on,” Mipha pointed out, inspecting Link’s bandage- she wouldn't waste her healing powers on such a minor, petty injury, he knew, but she would still make sure he was alright. _

_ “You kind of had to expect that when you said “Fight me, Revali” he may have actually fought you,” Daruk chuckled, shaking his head. “Urbosa’s chewing him out right now, I bet.” _

_ “Oh, good. He’ll never let go of the fact that I started crying when he pecked me in the eye.” Link said grumpily, leaning his head back against the couch. _

_ “To be fair, he did give you a nasty bruise over your ribs too. It probably hurt a lot,” Mipha said, protesting as Link pressed down on his ribs to see how bad the bruise hurt. “Link, it hurts. I feel as if you don’t really need to test it.” _

_ Dramatically, Revali burst through the door and bowed down, declaring his apology;  _

_ “Link, will you ever forgive me! Oh, I have made such a horrible mistake in hurting your precious little eye, how can I ever-” Urbosa whacked his shoulder, glaring. _

_ “That's not what I meant by ‘Apologize’ and you know it,” she said, Revali sighing.  _

_ “He plucked out one of my feathers! He's not innocent here.” _

_ “Oh, you two are so childish.” Urbosa dismissed his complaint, looking at Link. “You should apologize to Revali too.” _

_ “Fine. I'm sorry for calling you out on being a dick-” _

_ “Link!” Zelda cut him off, everyone else laughing.  _

_ Urbosa shook her head, looking between Link and Revali. She and Zelda shared a look of ‘What are you gonna do about it?’ _

_ Link’s laughter tapered off and turned into coughing and wheezing, and wordlessly every champion stopped laughing as Mipha yanked Link’s tunic off to find the bandages he often used wrapped tightly around his chest. Mipha sliced them off with her claw, pulling up his blanket to cover his chest as he caught his breath. _

_ She’d had to do that many times before. _

_ “Link, I told you. Those bandages aren't safe. I gave you that binder-” _

_ “It doesn't work as well as the bandages do,” Link coughed out, holding the covers over himself as the other champions awkwardly milled about, unsure of what to do. _

_ “Yeah, the bandages work so well that they've started bending your ribs. Look, hon.” She said, gesturing for Link to see the damage he'd done to himself. “You can't keep doing this. Breathing is important.” _

_ “Breathing is for weak people,” Link wheezed, pulling the blanket around his shoulders. _

_ “Why don't you stop doing it then?” Revali asked jokingly, earning another glare from Urbosa.  _

_ “Link, I wouldn't normally suggest this, as it's an incredibly dangerous operation for a hylian, but…” Urbosa sighed, crossing her arms. “There's a place I know where someone can perform surgery to get rid of those.” _

_ “Where?” Link asked immediately, bolting upright. “I'll go there right now. Where is it?” He demanded, staring at Urbosa. _

_ “There's a doctor near Gerudo town. It's a rare but still common occurrence for gerudo to be trans men, so the doctor set up shop there to be of use to those individuals.” Urbosa paused, then continued; “Gerudo heal much faster than Hylians and have a much greater pain tolerance. It will be very unpleasant for you.” _

_ “We’re going.” Link stated firmly, yanking his shirt away from Mipha and pulling it on, shifting out of his bed that he'd been sitting on. _

_ “It's quite a ways there-” Urbosa interjected, sighing as she realized there was no way for her to win this argument. “Well, I guess we’re going then,” she told the other champions as Link walked out the door. _

Link blinked back into consciousness- he had apparently taken a nap before the festival.

He got up, looking around for any indication of the time. It seemed to be getting dark, but still relatively light outside.

He stripped out of his current shirt and shorts, checking through his wardrobe to see what he was going to wear to the festival- surely he wanted to look at least halfway decent- when he caught a look at himself in the mirror once again.

Curiously, he leaned closer to the mirror- he actually looked pretty nice right now.

He pulled the chopstick out from his hair, letting his blonde locks fall freely over his shoulders. He ran his fingers through it a few times, shaking it out before putting it up a little more tightly. He started humming a tune as he spun in circles towards his wardrobe, pulling out the Zora set- apparently, someone had found the rest of the set for him and put it in his wardrobe. He carefully tugged his armor on, then the greaves, and then placed the helm on his head, winking at himself in the mirror. He looked pretty damn good if he did say so himself.

Oh, and he  _ did  _ say so himself. 

Atlas sniffed at his ankles as he turned around to check himself out from different angles, then yawning and curling up on the ground.

He experimented with his facial expressions in the mirror, unsure of who he was going to be flirting with using these but he was damn sure he’d use them on someone. 

“Liking the Zora armor?” Sidon’s voice rang out from the doorway, shocking Link momentarily before he composed himself and looked over at Sidon rather flirtatiously without even realizing. 

“Yeah- um- yep- yes sir.”

Link still needed practice matching his face with his words.

\---

Link was awkwardly navigating through the festival, trying to find something to distract himself with.

Unfortunately, this did lead him to the bar.

“Hello, hylian champion! What would you like to drink?” 

“Mill,” he tried to say, frustrated that the K sound refused to work for him still. “Mel-kuh.” He pronounced it slowly, proud of himself but confused at the zora’s expression. 

“We don't have Milk here,” the bartender said awkwardly. “Here's the menu.” 

Link pointed at one of them at random, earning another odd look as he sat down in the sitting area and downed his first drink quickly. It left a bitter taste in his mouth, but it made him feel warm and fuzzy- kind of like his memories of his friends. He kept drinking them, giggling as the cold drinks made him feel warm.

He'd drunk something around ten when he realized this was the same stuff he'd had back at Gerudo town.

“I found you!” Sidon declared proudly, blinking in confusion at Link’s oddly wide smile.

“You're so brave,” Link said as he started to go for another sip. “And so fucking red.”

“I think you've had enough of those,” Sidon said worriedly, taking it from Link’s hands.

“‘S jus melk.” He slurred, the drinks definitely not helping his speaking abilities. 

“This is alcohol, Link. Not milk.”

“In-Co-rect!” Link purposefully split apart the syllables for dramatic effect, but Sidon did not seem to find it amusing.

“I'm going to say that you should probably go to bed,” Sidon declared, pulling Link up and helping him walk towards his room. “Night night, Link.” He said, helping him lay down in his bed without stumbling. Atlas was enjoying a bunch of Zora children spoiling him with bits of fish in the square, and was quite content where he was.

“Mighty bite, Sidon.” Link stumbled over his words, grinning as he fell asleep.

“Mighty bite, Link.” Sidon laughed, walking out from Link’s line of sight.

\---

_ Link was laid down on the surgical table, his hands and feet restrained with straps. He was incapable of moving, thanks to them, and all he could do was glance around at his friends and the surgeon as he prepared himself for the pain he was about to go through. _

_ “You alright, Link?” Mipha asked, closer than the others- she was there to help ease his pain a bit as well as heal him faster when the surgery was over. _

_ “Mhm,” he mumbled around the piece of rope in his mouth to bite down on. _

_ “Okay, sir.” The doctor addressed him, his table of tools out of Link’s line of sight. “I'm about to make the incision, so brace yourself.” Link nodded, squeezing his eyes shut and biting his teeth down as he felt the blade drag through his skin. _

_ The rest of it was a bit of a blur- Mipha’s voice, short blackouts, screaming, and a lot of pain. _

_ “He's bleeding a lot…” Snip. “Can he hear us?” Tug. “Is he supposed to get that pale?” Slash. “You're almost done, right?” “He's almost done, I think.” _

_ “Is he okay?” Revali’s voice rang out, surprisingly concerned. Mipha had already started healing him, the doctor leaving to allow them some privacy. _

_ “Don't distract me,” Mipha hissed. _

_ “Why aren't the incisions healing?” Zelda asked, earning a sharp look from Mipha. _

_ “I'm healing the internal injuries instead of the surface ones, because those are harder to heal.” She explained, using one of her hands to prop herself up on the table. _

_ “Mipha, don't overwork yourself. Go lie down for a bit,” Urbosa commanded, looking down at Link, who was staring wide-eyed around at them. Zelda applied bandages over the incisions- not wrapped around his chest, but simply to stop some of the bleeding. _

_ “The pain is over, Link. But you have to promise not to start touching your chest when we let your hands free. Okay?” Zelda said, getting a response of a weak “Mhm.” _

_ Daruk got ready to carry Link to the clean bed near the surgical table as Zelda unfastened his restraints. Mipha was sitting on the couch, observing them carefully. _

_ “Owwwww,” Link breathed out as the rope was removed from his mouth, Daruk gently picking up the hylian and setting him down on his bed, over the sheets. _

_ Link tried to prop up his head a little, getting a glance at his now-flat chest, but Revali pushed him back down. “Don't hurt yourself, jackass.” _

_ “Right back at you, bird brain.” Link said, trying to jokingly punch Revali but crying out in pain as soon as he tried to move his arm. _

_ Revali turned to address the other champions.  _

_ “You guys are all tired. I slept through half of it, I'll stay up and make sure he's fine. You four get some sleep.” _

_ Everyone nodded without hesitation, going to find spots to sleep throughout the building. _

_ Link stared at the ceiling while Revali sat by his bedside, keeping watch over him. _

_ “I'm thirsty,” Link said quietly, trying not to annoy Revali. _

_ The Rito looked over and nodded, getting up and finding the glass of water near the surgical table, gently propping Link up with pillows to let him drink the water. _

_ “Do you want a book or anything?” Revali offered as he held the glass to Link’s mouth, careful not to let it spill on him. “I'm pretty sure there’s food somewhere, too.”  _

_ “Can I have soup?” Link asked after he’d downed the glass, earning a small nod. _

_ “Carrot, right?” _

_ “Yeah.” _

_ Revali left the room, Link testing how much he could move before the pain was excruciating. He found that since many of the muscles in his chest were connected to his arm, it was hard to move it around. _

_ He could definitely see better that his ribs were concave from him being so bad at binding, but at least he would possibly be able to breathe better now.  _

_ The door creaked quietly as it opened again, Revali coming in carefully balancing a bowl of soup.  _

_ “Soup, for the little baby,” Revali said mockingly, sitting down in his chair and carefully handing the bowl of soup to Link, letting him balance it in his lap before handing him the spoon. _

_ Link slowly lifted the spoon from the bowl to his mouth, his shoulder burning from the effort. Revali sighed before snatching the spoon from his hand and lifting it the rest of the way to his mouth, then getting another spoonful from the bowl. _

_ “This is not going to last, I hope you know.” Revali muttered as he fed Link the soup. _

_ “I know. I owe you a favor,” Link said in between mouthfuls, sighing with relief as his aching stomach was soothed by the warm soup. _

_ “Oh hell yes you do.” Revali shoved another spoonful into Link’s mouth, laughing a bit as some of it dribbled down his chin. “Alright, you ate all of it.” Revali said, leaning back in his chair.  _

_ “Am I allowed to put a shirt on? I'm cold.”  _

_ “Yeah. Hold on,” Revali said, going to retrieve the shirt that he'd been informed was for Link. _

_ Link felt awkward as Revali manipulated his arms to go through the holes in the shirt, pulling it down over his head. It didn't offer a whole lot of warmth, since it was made of such a thin material.  _

_ Link reached for the edge of the blanket, trying to lean forward before Revali stopped him and pulled it over him, Link wiggling down into the warm sheets and falling asleep. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I fucking love revali as a character. He is the true embodiment of a bitchy theatre kid and honestly? if i were a furry he'd be my fursona. or feathersona. idk how all that works. See y'all on saturday! (P.S. I took most of the surgical scene from what I know about how surgery was performed before anesthetics were created. Sorry if its inaccurate because I read that book a good six years ago.)


	11. Daddy Issues

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I sort of took a 2k long segment and edited it into this 6 or 7k word thing (i didnt check, its an estimate) so enjoy your chapter, surprisingly on schedule

“I would appreciate if you avoided drinking that much again,” Sidon remarked from the side of his bed when he noticed Link’s eyes were open. Atlas was sitting on his chest, close enough to lick Link’s face if he wanted to.

Atlas had certainly gotten heavier- Link estimated he weighed a good thirty pounds now.

“Mhm,” Link said, blinking hazily as his eyes adjusted to the light. His head  _ really  _ hurt.

“Water?” Sidon offered, handing Link a glass of water. Link downed it quickly, coughing a little. Atlas whined as he was displaced from Link sitting up, setting his head down in his lap.

Link yawned, stretching his arms up in the air when Sidon took the empty glass from him. 

_ “ _ I have to go soon.” Link said, hoping enough of it was clear enough for him to understand.

Sidon nodded, petting Atlas’ head. “We would love to have you back at any time.” 

Link smiled awkwardly, brushing hair away from his face.

“Oh! Someone made these for Atlas,” Sidon said, reaching onto the nightstand and grabbing four small pieces of armor. They were made like Zora armor was, but made to wrap over his feet and seemed to be designed to help him swim faster. They had small diamonds embedded over where his claws would protrude, as the bottoms of his feet wouldn't be covered to allow him free movement.

“Who?” Link asked, marveling at the handiwork, fastening the band around Atlas’ front right paw. 

“They asked to remain anonymous,” Sidon stuttered a bit, helping Link fasten the others on. Atlas sniffed at them for a moment, then seemed to become indifferent to them.

Atlas now had pieces of armor from both the gerudo and the Zora- perhaps he could get some pieces from the Rito and Gorons?

He wasn't entirely sure why his dog was better dressed than him.

“Well, I guess it's time for you to head out.” Sidon said, almost sounding sad, before breaking out in a huge grin once again. “You are welcome to come back at any time and please remember you will always have this room available!”

Link blinked rapidly, trying to offer a smile in return for the encouragement.

“Bye then,” Link mumbled.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Link really needed a horse. So that's what he was up to right now.

He’d been surveying a few herds of horses, trying to judge which one he might want. None of them really appealed to him- they just didn't grab his attention- until he stumbled across one herd in particular.

There was a brown horse with a black mane, only a white diamond on its face and white “socks” as markings. He stared at it, trying to figure out why it looked so familiar. 

This was the one he'd take, he decided.

He pointed down, Atlas sitting obediently as Link started sneaking up behind the horse.

Horses had eyes on the sides of their heads, so if he was careful and only came up directly behind it, he'd be able to mount it.

He crawled as silently as possible, the horse none the wiser. Link got just behind it and hoisted himself up onto its back, holding onto it tightly as it started bucking.

He managed to hold on long enough for it to calm down, slowly directing it to walk towards the stable he knew was close by. He whistled for Atlas to start following him again, hearing the soft metallic clank of his gear as he walked along at the horse’s pace, a safe distance away from any kicking hooves.

Link stroked the horse’s neck gently, trying to soothe it. The stable was a short walk away, so he'd hopefully be able to get it registered. 

It seemed to be a stallion from its build, so he started thinking up names. It had to fit with the theme of Titan and Atlas, of course. 

He was completely blank on thoughts until he looked back at the field of flowers he'd found the horse in, identifying as many as he could- Daisies, a silent princess, peonies, Lavender…

Evander. It sounded like Lavender, and it was nice with Atlas. 

Speaking of Atlas, he was getting awfully large. He weighed easily forty pounds now, possibly even fifty. He remembered that Atlas’ mother had been up almost to his belly button- he would likely weigh over one-hundred pounds by the time he was fully grown.

Training him to fight might be a good idea, but Link wasn't confident enough to let him face off against anything but a singular bokoblin.

The stable approached, and Link had to convince the horse to slow down enough to talk to the stable chief.

“That's a mighty fine horse you've caught yourself!” The man at the counter exclaimed, getting his pen ready. “Would you like to register it?”

Link nodded, dismounting the horse and allowing a stablehand to start tacking up the horse while Link signed some papers.

“Evander- what a nice name!” Said the stablemaster, putting the papers under his desk. “Will you be taking this little one with you?” Link nodded, clicking his tongue to get Atlas’ attention.

He picked Atlas up- which was now a challenge- and mounted Evander. He didn't intend to gallop anywhere, so there wasn't any harm in letting Atlas travel curled up at his chest.

Evander still seemed to only vaguely tolerate Link, so hopefully on their walk to Rito village they could get along a bit better.

_ Just three guys off to save Hyrule,  _ Link thought to himself, smiling a little bit.  _ Well, and four dead people. And a magical princess.  _

Link absentmindedly stroked Atlas’ fur while Evander trotted along the path instinctively as Link stroked his mane. The reins were loose, because he was far too lazy to hold them.

Link really enjoyed having animals in his company. When he was with other hylians, or with the Zora or Gerudo, he was immensely stressed out by the obligation to talk. But when it was only him, a dog, a horse and the forest- he could just relax. 

There was no need for him to pretend to have a clue what he was doing, because they couldn't understand him anyway. Likely, they didn’t have a clue either. They could just be at peace, and communicate with each other silently, without words.

He wondered where Mimi had gone after she ran from him- probably back to her stable. He would have to go check on her at some point.

Atlas was calmly snoozing in his lap- he supposed Atlas didn't get as much rest as he probably should, but Link did try to stop and rest in a decently comfortable location fairly often.

Evander had calmed down and seemed to be done with trying to throw him off. Which was good, because Link found a sign by a fork in the road and stopped to inspect it.

_ Hateno Village -> _

He'd been planning to come here later, but since he'd apparently stumbled across it, he might as well go and talk to Purah.

He switched his direction towards Hateno village, Evander grunting in annoyance.

He could rest here for the night- perhaps there was an inn- and then move along. Atlas started stirring as he heard people talking, Link maintaining a slow pace as he made his way through the town gates and towards the hill. 

Impa had told him the research lab was up there, and conveniently there was a path- no climbing necessary.

Atlas yawned, licking Link’s face and waiting for them to come to a stop before leaping down and sitting by the door. Link looped Evander’s reins around a post and then stepped inside, Atlas following him.

Atlas ran up to Purah, who was eating her lunch, trying to lick her face before he was pushed away gently. 

“Oh, who are you?” She giggled, putting down her fork and looking up at Link, who was still in the doorway. “Did you enjoy your nap?"

“Yeah,” Link laughed a little, pulling his sheikah slate off of his hip. “I’m supposed to ah, sh-show you this,” he stuttered, handing it to her.

“Got a bit of a lisp now, hm? Well, that's fine. You didn't talk much in the past, either.” She shrugged, taking the sheikah slate from him. “Odd… it seems you don't have the camera rune.”

“The huh?” 

“Camera rune. Would you be a dear and go bring some blue flame from the ancient furnace in town up here?” 

Link nodded, not truly understanding what she was asking, but he took the torch she handed him and started walking. 

Evander grunted at him as he walked by, Link setting him free and letting him walk alongside him down the hill. Atlas seemed content with letting Purah spoil him with bits of her lunch.

He pulled an apple out of a tree on his way down, taking a bite of it and then feeding the rest to Evander.

He lit the tip of the torch with the flame, carrying it up and lighting the lanterns along the way. He didn't actually know why he was taking this up to Purah’s research lab, she hadn't told him.

He lit the lantern just outside of the lab, then extinguished the fire by smothering it with his hand. It left an odd burn on his palm, but he didn't think much of it.

He left the torch on the ground, once again tying Evander to the post. He entered, Purah clapping her hands. Atlas was snoozing on the ground, his legs in the air- he assumed it was so Purah could give him belly rubs if she chose. 

“Aha! Now that the guidance stone is active, I can enable the missing camera rune.” She said, taking his sheikah slate and placing it on the pedestal. “And ta-da! Get some pictures of Atlas.”

Link took the sheikah slate from her, flipping to the camera rune and sitting down next to Atlas, tapping the capture button and then grinning. 

He could take pictures of all sorts of cool things! Like his horse, himself, more Atlas, or Sidon, or-

He'd cut off his train of thought there.

He rode down the hill, out of Hateno village, Atlas running along next to Evander’s galloping form. 

Link let his hair out from his ponytail holder, letting the wind whip his hair around. He laughed out loud, Atlas barking at him as they galloped along the path, Evander seeming excited to finally be able to sprint. 

Link could tell he was humming a song- he didn't know the name of it, but it sounded familiar, even though he was the one humming it- it was odd how his brain only got small pieces back, leaving little holes that frustrated him to no end.

He looked up to the darkening sky, taking in the faint glimmers of stars that expanded far past he could ever see, and clouds- one of which looked remarkably like a bear cub he'd known decades ago.

Titan was here, and Link felt truly safe, for he knew he was watching over him.

And then… Vah Medoh. The divine beast soared over the sky, filling the air with a metallic buzz that radiated throughout, making him a bit queasy.

Link was almost to Rito village- he could see it in the distance quite easily. The winding towers were beautiful in a natural way, almost the opposite of the Zora domain. 

It was getting a little cold, though, which he didn't much care for. He would have to buy some warm clothes. Link preferred to be in warmer areas where fancy clothes weren’t necessary.

Evander slowed as they approached the bridge into the town, and then stopped completely as they came across the stairs. Link led him under a small outcropping from the walkway to protect him from any rain that might come and tossed him an apple- there was plenty of grass for him to graze on for a day or so. He didn't plan to be gone very long. 

Link and Atlas made the trip up the stairs, waving at a few Rito who looked at him curiously. He knew that the leader of this place was likely at the top. 

Or, he could be completely wrong. But that didn't matter much in his head.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

“You should go. I don't need help.” Teba grunted, messing with the string of his bow. 

“But-”

“I said go.”

Link sighed, brushing his hair back from his face. He didn't know how to convince the old warrior that he could be of help, especially when he could hardly harness words to talk to people who were convincing  _ him  _ they needed his help.

“You're not leaving, are you?” Teba asked, turning around to glare at him. “Well, I suppose that makes two of us. I'm not leaving until I get Vah Medoh to crash to the ground.”

“Um-” 

“The problem is, there's no way I can board it. All of the champions died one-hundred years ago.” Teba looked out at Vah Medoh, as if evaluating what to do. 

“I'm a champion.”

“Oh, yeah. And I'm divine ruler of all Hyrule.” 

“No, I'm… my name's Link.”

Teba turned to look at him again, squinting. 

“You do look like him…” he sighed, shrugging. “Well, if you're this determined, might as well. Let's go.”

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

“Did you enjoy your nap while everyone else  _ fucking died?”  _ Revali shouted at him as his spirit erupted angrily from the control panel, feathers whirling everywhere. “God, I wish I had a physical form so I could slice your pretty little face into pieces.”

“Liar,” Link declared, recalling the memory from after he'd had surgery- “Tha- that doesn't soumd like the guy who fed me soup.” He grinned, proud of himself for pronouncing most of the words correctly.

“That was before you kind of let everyone get murdered.” Revali pointed out, crossing his wings pointedly. “Well, anyway.” He sighed, looking over at Link. “There's something I don't have a use for anymore, so I suppose I should give it to you.” 

He transferred what looked like a spirit orb- similar to what Mipha and Urbosa had given him- to Link. 

“Revali’s gale! Look at you. So special, so talented. So goddamn special, you got- where the fuck is your sword?”

“Hyrule forest.”

“Well go get it, asshole!” Link felt his body shatter into pieces- the teleportation magic was taking into effect, he supposed- and then he rematerialized quite jarringly in Rito village. 

He stretched his arms in the air and then started heading to where he'd left Atlas- a group of five sisters had offered to take care of him while he was gone. 

Atlas jumped up on him as soon as he walked in the room, Link thankful for the additional padding the snowquil set had given him. 

He leaned down to let Atlas lick his face, laughing and scratching behind his ears before he noticed something on his legs. 

“What’re these?” He asked, tracing over the designs on the wooden bracelet-type things.

“They’re good luck charms!” One of them declared, eyes sparkling. “The one with rabbits is to gift him with speed!” 

“And the others?” He asked curiously, looking over the four of them.

“The one with bears is to gift him with strength, and the one with hawks is to gift him with amazing sight, and the one with butterflies is to make sure he's always happy!” Link smiled, kissing Atlas’s head. “The butterflies are on his front right leg, because they're most important.” 

“That's adorable.” He told them, pulling out a gold rupee from his pouch. “Spend it well,” he told the five of them, tying up the pouch and then waving goodbye, Atlas following him as he walked up to where Teba’s home was.

“Link! Good to see you made it,” Teba declared, rubbing his leg. “I don’t have much to offer, but you are welcome to stay with my family at any time. You certainly proved me wrong.”

Link bowed his head in acknowledgement, brushing his unruly hair away from his face. Teba sighed, standing up and walking over to Link, wrapping him up in a warm hug. It felt oddly familiar, even if he knew the feeling hadn’t come from Teba himself- a warm feeling that filled him with comfort, knowing he was safe.

He hadn’t realized how much he had missed the feeling. 

“Take care of yourself, kid.” Teba said, patting his back before moving to release Link, but Link grabbed onto him and buried his face in Teba’s chest- he restrained tears from coming to his eyes, forcing back memories of his father.

He didn’t know how much he’d missed a parental figure in his life.

“Are you gonna let me go?” Teba chuckled, slipping out from Link’s grasp when it was loosened. “Woah, why are you crying?”

Link’s eyes overflowed as images of his father rushed into his head, surrounding him. Warm hugs, bad jokes, hunting… Link’s father had had his same, striking blue eyes, though his hair was different. 

“Hey, shh, shh, it’s alright,” Teba soothed him, letting him back into a warm, feathery hug.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Unfortunately, Link did have to head out from Rito village. 

“Hey, lil one,” he mumbled, pressing his face against Evander’s to kiss his muzzle. He offered him a carrot, then swung himself up onto his back. 

He knew the last region he would have to visit was Death Mountain- but he really didn’t want to.

He had to, though. Maybe after he'd had a little bit more time in the Zora domain, or after he got the Master sword. And perhaps a visit back here. He’d have to tell his newfound friends to move somewhere a little closer together so he could stay around them all at once. 

He'd go to to Hyrule forest first, he determined, then go to the Zora domain and see if he could get any fireproof elixirs. 

Yes. That was why he was going to the Zora domain.

Though, he may stop by the gerudo desert first. It was sort of close, he could make it there in a day, and he had heard of the spa treatment they had there and he could certainly use a kind touch.

There was also a cooking class, apparently, so maybe he could stop failing horribly at cooking anything beyond meat skewers.

And as a plus, he could truly enjoy the Zora domain when he was sufficiently sandy and dehydrated. Maybe he’d go there  _ before  _ hyrule forest.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

_ “Daruk!” Mipha shouted. _

_ “Yeah?” He said, turning around. _

_ “We want to see who's the strongest champion. So we're all gonna fight each other,” Link said excitedly, grinning. “Zelda’s going to be the judge.” _

_ “Alright,” Daruk chuckled, parting Link on the back forcefully and almost knocking him over. “Let’s go find out.”  _

_ This might be a bad idea, but they weren't really testing physical strength- more skill in combat. _

_ Zelda sat perched on a table, her hair pulled up in a messy knot and her flower pajamas making her look quite casual.  _

_ Everyone else was also wearing pajamas- Link and Mipha wore blue pajamas that were similar to the champions tunic, but instead of the sword it was a lobster (they had been a wedding gift from Mipha’s father). _

_ Revali wore a loose tunic with a moose on it, Daruk wore a cloth with a lizard on it, and Urbosa had some hand-embroidered Lightning designs on her blue tunic. Apparently, her daughter liked to sew; she'd often make herself sand-seal plushies. _

_ “Alright!” Zelda declared, sitting up higher. “First, we will have a team game. Daruk will unfortunately be excluded from this because I'm pretty sure he would win regardless of what team he was on, and also we have an uneven number.” Zelda brushed a stray lock out of her face, yawning. “No weapons. Link and Mipha vs. Revali and Urbosa.” _

_ “Hey, that's not fair!” Revali shouted, crossing his wings. “They know how to fight together, we don't.” _

_ “Sounds like a personal problem,” Zelda said, waving her hand to dismiss his concern. “Fight!” _

_ Revali immediately took to the air, nearly hitting his head on the ceiling before he started trying to dive bomb Link before Mipha lunged at him and knocked him out of the air, the two of them rolling for a few feet before Mipha came out on top and started continuously hitting Revali with a pillow. _

_ Link turned to Urbosa- or at least, where she had been. Apparently she'd taken the opportunity of him paying no attention to sneak up behind him, which was followed by picking him up and hurling him like a javelin towards the couch.  _

_ Link landed in the cushions, temporarily out of breath before he jolted back up, hurling a pillow at Urbosa before she could approach him again, leaping across the room to hopefully knock her over- or he would have, if Revali didn't drill his beak directly into his arm. Link yelped, diving away from Revali and clutching his shoulder, which was bleeding a bit.  _

_ “And, Revali and Urbosa win! I guess. I just don't want to see any more blood, so I'm calling this match.” Zelda said, taking a sip from her tea cup. “Link the javelin was very impressive.” _

_ Mipha put her hand over Link’s wound, kissing him on the cheek as she healed the small injury.  _

_ “Aww, how cute.” Daruk said, chuckling. “Is it my turn to throw Link now?”  _

_ “Are we just changing the name of the game to throwing me around? Because honestly, I'm fine with that. It sounds fun.” _

_ “I mean, sure.” Zelda said, blinking. “How about ‘who can throw Link the farthest?’” _

_ “Who can make him scream the loudest?” Revali proposed, eyeing Daruk’s muscles. _

_ “That’d be me, actually.” Mipha said jokingly, Link squeaking and hiding his face in his hands. _

_ “I meant in terror!” Revali corrected himself, eyes wide. “Goodness gracious, you two are nasty.” _

_ “Who can throw Link the furthest.” Zelda coughed, adjusting her pajamas uncomfortably.  _

_ “Me first!” Mipha said, dragging Link to the end of the room and getting ready, stretching her arms out. “Alright, Link, you ready?” _

_ “Hell yeah.” _

_ Mipha barely managed to pick Link up- they were very similar in size, and managed to use momentum to her advantage to get him a whopping 3 and a half feet across the floor. _

_ He was going to have a lot of rug burns on his face. _

_ “Me next!” Revali shouted, dragging Link by the foot back to the end of the room, hoisting himself up with some effort and then hurling him as far as he could- probably about six feet. _

_ “My turn.” Urbosa declared, picking Link up and hurling him forward around ten feet, laughing as he groaned in pain. _

_ “My face hurts,” Link complained, yelping as Daruk picked him up, walked to the end of the room, and then threw him all the way across. Link crashed into the wall face- first, feeling something come dislodged in his mouth. _

_ “Oh! That was my last baby tooth!” He shouted, spitting it out into his palm and holding it up proudly. “Thanks, Daruk! Also, I think I have a concussion now.” _

_ ~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~ _

So that was what a con-cushion was!

Link let the joy of memories of his friends from the past slowly rock him into consciousness, finding that he was curled up around Atlas and Evander and laid down next to them, with his legs folded under. His campfire had burned out quite a bit ago, but the sun was still just barely streaming through the trees. 

He yawned, sitting up slowly as to not disturb Atlas, taking in the surroundings. He'd found a very nice spot to sleep for the night, near a small pond and surrounded by trees, just a little bit off of the path. He was only a short walk to the gerudo desert now.

He'd have to leave Evander at the canyon stable, since he knew there was no way he'd be able to walk in the desert. It would only be a short stay, of course. 

He didn't bother stripping from his clothes, wading into the small pond to wake himself up with the cold water. He knew that he would be changing into his folded up gerudo set soon, anyway. Atlas and Evander drank from the edge of the pond, though Atlas seemed weary of jumping in with him. 

Link whistled, holding his arms out to help Atlas swim if he needed. Atlas evaluated for a moment and then jumped down into the pond, paddling towards Link and licking his face mercilessly. 

“Yeah, you needed a bath,” He mumbled, running his fingers through Atlas’ fur to loose some dirt out of it before returning him to the shore.

Link ducked under the surface, blowing small bubbles out through his nose before he felt something tugging him up very abruptly, dragging him back to the shore. 

When he splashed onto the surface, he realized that it had been Atlas- he must have thought Link was drowning and then tried to save him. Link threw his head back and laughed, kissing the top of Atlas’ head. 

“Good boy, good boy.” He mumbled, smiling at him, his brown eyes filled with concern for his owner.

Link peeled his wet clothes off of himself, digging through his bag to find the gerudo set. The colors were nice- they matched his eyes- but he really didn't like how exposed it made him feel. All of his scars were showcased for the people around him to see- and it didn't help that the flimsy material held almost no merit in combat.

He pulled it on, adjusting the face mask to fit properly, then tied his hair back and stood up. 

He led Evander along with the reins, Atlas trotting along happily beside them- probably proud that he had saved his owner earlier. 

The stable was actually just around a corner, fortunately, so he didn't have to walk long to get Evander boarded. He also secured most of his belongings that he didn't need to carry with him to Gerudo town, picking up a sirwal to make sure he wasn't completely defenseless, as well as a jar of Atlas’ food. 

He started walking along the beaten path, which was much easier now that he wasn't sweating bullets and also knew how to do it. 

He would dig the metal toes of his shoes in to propel himself along a little faster than just sliding around like an idiot in the loose sand would, although Atlas still seemed to be much better at it than he was.

He stopped by the bazaar, wanting to lend a visit to Villia and also to let Atlas see his mother again, as this is where he'd bought him.

Link sighed as Atlas started rolling around in the dirt, despite the fact that he'd  _ just  _ gotten a bath, going over to a few people who looked like merchants. He might be able to buy something nice… for something. He was sure he'd find a use for something nice.

“Oh, wow! You're really cute!” 

Link blinked in surprise, snapping his fingers to get Atlas to come to his side. He stared at the man, waiting for him to offer to sell him something. Atlas growled, sensing Link’s apprehension, the man going wide-eyed.

“Sorry! I um… don't know why I said that. I'm out of everything at the moment, so I can't sell you anything.” Link shrugged, turning on his heel to walk away- he had more important things to do than deal with weird merchants.

Like get an expensive massage. Yes, that was important.

He walked along with Atlas, waving to the guards as he passed by them. Gerudo town was a pretty charming place, he had to admit. It was unfortunate it was also located smack dab in the middle of the desert. He would get burnt to a crisp by the time he was out.

He figured he would go show Atlas to the gerudo guards again- it was only morning, and he really couldn't justify getting a massage only thirty minutes after he'd woken up. 

Atlas happily trotted alongside Link, shaking some sand out from his fur before they went into the guard’s area. Upon seeing him, Barta almost immediately broke her focus and ran over to pet him.

“Atty! Atty! Hello there!” She said, petting him vigorously before the guard captain yelled at her. “Sorry, gotta get back to work.” 

Link nodded, looking around to find something else to do. Another Hylian- interestingly enough, started heading into a room near the guard captain. Thinking she might be up to something, Link followed her and found what had to be the weirdest place he'd ever come across. 

For starters, it seemed to be a classroom, but the board had a picture of two people kissing and there were dolls lined up against the wall. One girl was sleeping in her seat while the others paid attention to the teacher.

Link turned to the other Hylian, seeing that she'd noticed him. 

“Hey! Another Hylian!” She exclaimed quietly, grinning. “I'm Traysi, author of rumor mill, as you probably know. I'm doing research on the gerudo right now.”

Link blinked, trying to make sense of the words that she was throwing at him. 

“Say…” she whispered, looking up and down at him. “Good job sneaking in. You pass awfully well as a Vai for a voe, if you ask me.”

“I didn't ask you.” Link muttered passive-aggressively, walking up to the teacher to ask what the hell her class was about.

“Ooh, a Hylian vai. Would you like to participate in class?”

He shrugged, going to the seat she gestured him towards.

“Alright. Imagine that a voe you've been interested in approaches you, and says hello. What do you do?”

“I would make it clear that I'm unarmed and smile to appear unthreatening.”

“I’d stride up to him as say hello as well, making sure he knows who I am.”

“Foreign vai, your turn.” The teacher informed him, waiting for a response.

“I would… um… my… I'd hide?”

“Alright…” she said, a bit confused.

“I would wait for the perfect moment to release a deadly strike!” One of the girls in the back shouted, causing everyone's heads to turn. 

“That's… a crime.”

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Link did quite like Gerudo town, he decided. It was a very large trading hub, so he could definitely buy something good here. 

He wandered from shop to shop, picking up a few things- a bite to eat, some materials, the usual stuff. 

He came across a shop with an intricate sign, stepping inside to find lots of earrings and headbands made from the useless sparkly rocks he'd traded to Beedle.

He did suppose they were kind of pretty, but he didn't want to waste so many rupees on them.  

“Welcome, ma’am!” Link almost corrected her before remembering that he was in gerudo town, pretending to look over the accessories. 

“These Opal earrings will help you swim faster. You look like an adventurer, so they may come in handy to you.” 

He supposed that he did spend a lot of time near the water, but how would some pieces of rock actually help him swim faster? It was probably some kind of sales gimmick, but the blue earrings he'd been sent into the shrine with could use a replacement, so he bought them anyway. 

It was getting dark, so he figured he might pay a visit to Riju before he went to the Inn. 

He climbed up the stairs to her room, waving to greet her as she whirled around and hid something from him.

“Ignore the seal plushies! They aren’t important!”

Link blinked, looking around her room. She did have an awful lot of seal decorations.

“It’s a nice room,” He mumbled, grinning under his veil. “I think I like the seal-ing the best.”

Riju stared at him for a moment before grinning, relaxing a bit.

“Why are you here?”

“Wanted to say hi,” He said, cracking his wrists.

“Ah. Well, there’s a perfectly nice hotel in town if you want to go check it out!” She said, waving good-bye as he left her room and went down to the hotel.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

He had been traveling with Evander and Atlas for a week or so before boarding Evander at a stable- then, he had traveled the familiar path here in the zora domain for a few days, and now he'd go the rest of the way. 

He petted the top of Evander’s head to wake him up, smiling as he let out a whiny yawn.

“C’mon, bud.” He whispered, standing up and stretching for a moment before starting along the way.

It was raining, of course, but not nearly as hard as it used to. He could make it in an hour to the domain easily, even though it was hard to see. He knew that all the monsters were gone due to him clearing them out on his first time down here, so it would be an easy walk to the Zora domain. 

He could see a few Zora fishing in the river, waving to them as he walked by. After this, he'd go up to Death mountain, and free the last divine beast. He would need to give Atlas lots of elixirs, as he didn't think that there was any fireproof armor for dogs. Of course, he could pay to have some custom made, but he doubted that Atlas would like wearing it anyway. Maybe he should just leave Atlas at the Zora domain while he went and took care of it. After going to goron city, he’d have to go and get the master sword, and then… he’d fight ganon? It seemed so unlikely to him, that he’d even get that far, given that he was such a blundering idiot who couldn’t manage to figure out half the things he’d been put in Hyrule to do-

His foot slipped, and he heard a clatter of rocks before he careened sideways, hitting his head on the rocks before sliding into the river, the rushing torrent quickly sending him under. He flailed his limbs, taking a deep breath out of instinct and inhaling two lungfuls of water. He couldn’t tell where up was anymore- was he going to die? Black spots swam over his vision, his chest uncomfortably tight as he suffocated, the river dragging along over rocks and along the side of the river. It felt like every bone in his body was broken, and the black spots had almost completely taken over his vision. His movements weakened as his body couldn’t supply oxygen to move his limbs, and then he felt the darkness cloud over in his brain, slipping into unconsciousness as he sank towards the bottom.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

“Link?” 

He jolted awake, coughing up water desperately, nearly positive it was bringing blood with it, and looking around him frantically, still convinced he was drowning. There were a few Zora near him and Sidon was sitting down to appear less tall.

“Link? Link! Focus, look at me, are you alright? Can I help?”

Link’s eyes were crossing, and he wasn’t quite sure which of the five Sidons was the real one. He laid back down, trying to sort out what was going on- his brain was completely blank, and his body was just acting on instinct at this point. He felt the emptiness cloud his head once more, falling asleep again.

“Link! Link, stay with me!”

_ “Link, Link, stay with us!”  _ _ Sidon exclaimed, offering a toothy grin. “You look dizzy,” The small Zora boy giggled, flipping his tail over his shoulder. _

_ “Are you really gonna save Hyrule mister Link?”  Yunobo asked, wide-eyed.  _

_ “Yeah, ‘course he is! He can't fail!” Sidon insisted, grinning at Link. _

_ “The sword wouldn't choose a dumbass to save Hyrule!” Riju pointed out, crossing her arms. _

_ “Riju!” Kass objected, squawking. “What did Urbosa say about potty words?” _

_ “Revali taught me them! He taught me how to say fuck!” Riju exclaimed excitedly, chanting every swear word she knew. _

_ “Okay, um, all of you please calm down-” Link was a little terrified, to be honest. The champions had dumped children on him to take care of while they ran some errands. Yunobo and Riju were both Daruk and Urbosa’s children, respectively, while Sidon was Mipha’s tinier brother and Kass was an orphan Revali had taken under his wing.  _

_ “How can we be calm when we’re with the most amazing hylian on the planet! Or that’s what my sister tells me! She says you’re really really cool!” Sidon grinned, his tiny tail flapping about behind him. “She even says you’re attractive! Or hot! Or like, sexy? I forgot what the word is…” _

_ Link covered his face with his hands, trying to curl up into a ball and collapse into nothing. _

_ “He can’t be the MOST amazing Hylian on the planet!” Riju insisted, frowning. “Zelda is like, way cooler!” _

_ “She is, yeah.” Kass said, nodding. _

_ “Mipha told me a story about how you skated down a hill on a pot lid and then broke your arm and then you saw a bear that was your pet when you were younger! And then you went back to the domain and got married! I think more happened in between those two things, though!” Sidon said, grinning so wide that Link was a little bit intimidated by the sharply pointed teeth.  _

_ “I’m hungry,” Yunobo complained, whining. Link looked across all the children, trying to recall what each of them would eat- what did Rito eat again? Salmon, right? And couldn’t Yunobo eat some of the rocks outside? Or was that rude to ask of him? _

_ “Uh… I’m not sure I have any food,” Link said, rethinking- didn’t gorons eat rock roasts? He definitely didn’t have any of those. He didn’t have fish, either. Or any food, in general. He was actually kind of hungry now that he thought about it.  _

_ “I want my mom.” Riju complained, looking at Link with judgmental eyes.  _

_ “I want my accordion.” Kass whined, Link starting to panic- he hardly knew how to take care of himself, how was he to take care of them? _

_ “Link, we’re back!” Zelda yelled, swinging the door open. _

_ “Oh thank hylia.” _

“You took quite the fall there, Link.” Sidon remarked, looking at him in concern. 

“Nnnngh,” Link mumbled, squeezing his eyes shut- his head was pounding painfully, although the cloth filled with ice on his head was helping somewhat. His arms, chest, basically everything radiated pain. 

“Are you doing alright?” 

Link’s brain was scattered, and any time it seemed as though a logical thought was about to come to him it faded into the background. He could hardly understand what Sidon was saying.

“It seems that you suffered from a concussion, a sprained ankle, a broken rib, and lots of bruises and scratches. You’ll be fine in a few days, but we’d prefer you rested before going to do anything else. Atlas… he dragged you out of the water before any of the fishermen could. He’s being well taken care of, if you’re wondering.”

“You used to be a lot tinier.” Link stuttered out, groaning as his head pounded harder with the effort.

“Go to sleep, Link. Mighty bite.”

“Mighty bite.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i had to babysit over my vacation so thats... where all of my information came from
> 
> this chapter was an emotional roller coaster to write


	12. I do not, In fact, Have anything important to do

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> lotsa gore in this chapter, of all kinds. I'd be cautious, but imo it isn't heavily described (?) sorry that it's so incredibly late, ill explain in the notes after the chapter since some of it relates to the chapter content. another shoutout to my blog on tumblr @creamsicle cat. i draw things sometimes, and u can send me requests

“Come on, Link! Rise and shine!” 

“I’m shining.” Link grumbled, pulling back his lips in the same way a smile would  _ technically  _ be formed, but it came off as more of a snarling expression.

“Okay, um, stop that.” Sidon said uncomfortably, smoothing some hair out of Link’s eyes so he could see. “Are you hungry? Thirsty? Do you need anything?”

“I’m fine,” Link mumbled, trying to close his eyes again.

“Link, you’ve been sleeping for sixteen hours. I don’t think it’s healthy to sleep any longer.”

“I’ve been huh?” Link said, blinking rapidly to wake himself up. “Can I have my bag?”

“Yes, um, here.” Sidon pulled Link’s backpack from the ground, passing it to him carefully. “It’s heavy.”

“I know.”

Link really wished he didn’t sound so passive-aggressive with his last comment, but it was hard to be nice when his brain fired off before he could think. Well, he wasn’t  _ not  _ nice, he was just inconsiderate of the thought process a normal hylian would take. He’d have to apologize to Sidon later, he supposed. Or, right now! Yes, the opal earrings he’d bought were still in his bag, he could give them as a gift to Sidon! This would immediately resolve his issue.That would be nice, he supposed. He’d paid a pretty decent amount of rupees for them.

“Link? Hello?” Sidon waved his hand in front of Link’s face, catching his attention.

“Sorry, hold on…” He fished through his bag for the box, which was much fancier than his other belongings.

“I bought these in gerudo town, and I think you should have them,” Link said, thrusting the box towards Sidon and grinning. Sidon blinked, taking the box from him and opening it up, his eyes going wide.

“Oh! Thank you!” Sidon said nervously, eyes a bit wide. “I do have to ask, Link… Mipha left her healing powers to you, so why not use them?”

“I… don’t know how. I think it might only be for fatal injuries,” Link said sheepishly, his ears pointing downwards in embarrassment. 

“Is there anything I can get for you?”

“I’m cold.” He replied, trying to be polite by not implying Sidon was useless. Or maybe, it was more impolite to have him get a blanket for him or something. Was he not being an inconvenience? Honestly, he had no clue how to navigate a social situation, especially with someone he wanted to impress.

Why did he want to impress Sidon again?

“Link, I think you really do have a concussion. You keep spacing out. Are you alright? Would you like to go back to sleep?”

“...Uh, yeah.” Link spluttered, returning to attention, Sidon covering him with another layer of blanket.

“I can read you a story, or something, if you like…” Sidon said, his face turning a funny shade. Link nodded, rolling over on his side to face Sidon, which took a considerable amount of effort. He was busy selecting a book from the shelf, deciding on one and then sitting back down, opening it to the first page.

“Sidon,” Laflat said sternly, crossing her arms. “You can’t stay here all day. You have to help your father.”

“Yes, Laflat, I know.” He said, standing up from his chair with a sigh and taking the earrings that Link had gifted him. “I’ll be back later.” He waved goodbye to Link, walking out of his room with Laflat, closing the door behind him and left Link one-hundred percent alone for the first time since he’d woken up.

Not even Atlas was in the room with him- nor the hum of wildlife he’d grown used to. It was odd to be in a completely silent room. 

He pulled his sheikah slate out from his bag, inspecting it- it seemed to be functioning fine, even after he’d taken his tumble. He opened up the album, looking at his one picture of Atlas before shutting it off.

He stretched his arms above his head, feeling the bandages on his arms pull against his skin as he cracked his knuckles. He dropped his arms back down at his sides, throwing his sheets off and carefully sliding off of his bed to the ground. His foot throbbed painfully when he put pressure on it, so he was probably going to be awkwardly limping around around.

He could see the bandages on his arms, covering the small scrapes he’d obtained, and the sharp pain in his chest was a sure sign of his injured rib. He could hear the lilted sound of music outside- perhaps someone was practicing out by Mipha’s statue? In any case, they were good- perhaps he’d donate a few rupees towards them.

He picked up his pouch of rupees, tying it onto his belt and pushing open the door while wincing- it hurt to do anything that involved effort, unfortunately.

He limped along the short path to Mipha’s statue, the sound of music getting louder as he approached it. He almost yelped in surprise when he saw who the musician was, blinking rapidly to make sure it was really him.

“Kass?”

“Oh, sorry, did I disturb you?” Kass asked, surprised. He stopped playing abruptly, looking over at Link and squinting as if he were trying to remember something.

“Hey, um, are you, by any chance…”

“Link! I’m Link.” He said proudly, grinning. “You’re Kass, right?”

Kass nodded, tilting his head to the side. “You haven’t aged a day since I was younger.” Kass said, chirping curiously. “Speaking of which, I thought… I thought you had died in the Calamity, like Revali had.”

“Er… sorta.” Link rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly intimidated by the fact that Kass had grown to be much taller than him. “Long story.”

Kass nodded, starting to pick up his music again. “Well, I won’t keep you. I’m sure you have something important to do.” Link nodded, walking away from Mipha’s statue and up the stairs before he realized he did not, in fact, have anything important to do.

Oops.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

_ “Shhh, shhh. You’re okay. What's wrong?” Mipha asked, trying to help Link ease out of his nightmares. _

_ “Ganon…” Link hissed, inhaling deeply before he woke up fully, pupils blown wide in terror. “Mipha, Mipha, you're alright!” _

_ “Yes, honey, I am.” She giggled, scooting to give Link some more room in his bed. _

_ “Sorry… I…” _

_ “Do you want to talk about it?”  _

_ Link could feel the absolute terror from his nightmare still washed over him, the utter helplessness to the other champion’s fates. But surely, it was only a dream- when Ganon returned, they would be prepared. But he could not chase the image of Mipha’s tiny form being run through by a sheikah spear from a creature only describable as a nightmare, Revali’s lithe body being shot from the sky and broken in the winds, Daruk, ever so strong, coming to his demise at a heavy sheikah sword’s command, and Urbosa being plucked from her life with a simple stab through her backside. _

_ And him. Brought to his own demise, from the guardians turned against them. He'd almost completely lost all of the skin under his left rib cage, some of his ribs even visible, his hair singed and his left eye blinded. He could feel it in his gut- something awful was going to happen. _

_ “Link! Snap out of it! What did you see?” _

_ Link looked towards Mipha, seeing the image of her bleeding out inside of Ruta, her eyes glazed over and fins flared wide. Link felt tears come into his eyes, burning hot and welling over as he squeezed Mipha into a hug so tight he was almost afraid he’d hurt her. _

_ He sobbed into her shoulder, his breath managing to calm down a bit with her soothing pats on his back and rocking him back and forth.  _

_ “I'm not going to let anyone hurt you. Alright?” Link insisted, trying to calm down as he started hyperventilating.  _

_ “Alright.” _

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

“Link! Sorry to alarm you, but you seemed to daze off for a moment there.” Bazz said, waving his hands in front of Link’s face. “Are you feeling alright? Do you need to be escorted back to your room?”

“I'm fine. Where's Atlas?” Link asked, feeling a dry tenseness in the back of his throat that often signaled he was going to cry soon.

“Training barracks. They've decided to teach him tricks.”

“Can you tell them that I'll be gone for a week or so? I have something I need to do.” Link’s voice came out as a strangled whisper, forcing every word out so he could get away as soon as possible.

“Sir, your injuries-” Bazz objected, looking up and down Link- he certainly wasn't in any shape to adventure.

“I know. I’ll be fine.” 

“Yes, sir.”

Link turned and walked away, looking down at himself.  _ ‘I’m not going to let anyone hurt you.’  _ An empty promise, he supposed. He wondered how many other promises he’d broken.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Link was headed to death mountain to free Daruk once and for all. And then, he’d stop by Hyrule Forest, and he would get the Master Sword, and then he would go and defeat Ganon. Hopefully.

He couldn’t justify- after the vision he’d just had- not setting Daruk’s spirit free simply because a volcanic region would be uncomfortable for him. He would buy some fireproof Elixirs at a stable and then go on to Death Mountain and take control of Rudania from Ganon.

He’d taken Zora equipment lying around in the domain- a silver longsword, shield, and bow- Although he loved the design of the Great Eagle Bow, it was wooden, so it would have to be left behind. He didn’t want to use Urbosa’s equipment, nor Mipha’s trident, even if they were made of metal and could be used on death mountain- he was too afraid to break the precious heirlooms.

He was hobbling along pretty strangely, trying to account for all of his injuries- maybe he should pick up a tree branch and use it as a sort of cane? Then again, bending over to pick one up didn’t sound like much fun either. He could feel tension wired through every fiber of his being, tiredness weighing down his mind like a fog. He had been walking for quite a bit now.

It was odd, being without Atlas- he knew that there was no way he’d take him up to death mountain, but he still wished he could. He’d at least pay someone to make something for Atlas as a sort of ‘sorry’ for leaving him for a week. He did still feel awfully lost without him.

He could see the easily distinguishable horse-head topped stable in a crowd of trees, hardly lit in the dusk fog.  _ I should get there before it’s completely dark,  _ He told himself, starting to pick up his pace. These woods looked easy to get lost in. 

He was actually pretty sure he was starting to imagine things- was he tired? He had taken an alternate route out of the Zora domain, since he hadn’t wanted to go past the part where he’d slipped, but he hadn’t imagined he’d set himself so off-track. His heart was pounding- where had the stable top gone? He could hardly breathe- it felt like his reaction to the Korok seeds, multiplied a thousand times. 

White fog surrounded his vision, disorienting him- he whirled around, trying to re-trace his steps out of the forest. He caught sight of an orange glow a little bit away, starting to head towards it. Did the trees have  _ mouths?  _ Which way had he come in, anyway?

Link reached the source of the light- a small lamp with a torch by it. He looked around apprehensively- indeed, the trees had mouths. He found it more than a little terrifying- could they  _ eat  _ him if he got too close? 

He turned back to the fire, lighting the torch and looking around- the wind seemed to be pushing him away from the fire, insisting that he move. He grumbled, straining against it before it increased intensity and practically hurled him in the direction it wanted him to go.

He let it push him along towards another lamp, when the wind changed the direction it was blowing abruptly. It almost felt like the wind was alive, pulling him around as if it had emotions and opinions on where he should go.

He decided to follow its lead before it threw him again, feeling his hair falling loose from the ponytail and whipping around in his face, making it hard to tell where he was going. He shut his eyes, trying to tie his hair back again while still walking in the direction the wind wanted him to, crashing directly into a tree and awkwardly tripping over the roots to get around it. 

His nose had been scratched up pretty badly, so he gave up on getting his hair out of his face and licked his hand to rub over his nose instinctively, surprised when a hot flash of blue light traveled from his hand through his whole body and relieved all of the aches and pains from his tumble in the river- as well as the scrape on his nose. He stared at his hand in wonder for a moment, holding it in front of his face, before the wind insisted that he move forward and caused him to stumble and poke himself in the eye.

Link grumbled, continuing to move as the wind pushed him, holding onto his backpack tightly. He kept wishing it would get him wherever it wanted him when it abruptly cleared out and left him in the middle of a foggy clearing.

He heard twigs snapping behind him and leaves crinkling, a sniffing sound accompanied by it- was there a wolf? Was he being hunted? He drew out his longsword- he probably should have taken a lighter weapon, it took some effort to hold- and turned around to face whatever was following him.

“Atlas?” He blinked in surprise, his dog looking up from where his nose had been close to the ground, presumably sniffing him out. Atlas wagged his tail, tongue lolling out of his mouth. Link leaned over and scratched the thick fur behind his ears, laughing at him and his determination. He walked across the clearing with Atlas’ footsteps padding gently on the grass behind him, a welcome sound in place of the wind howling in his ears.

The fog cleared as light gleamed through the tree branches, casting warmth on the tips of Link’s ears and nose, which he hadn’t noticed were cold. He blinked away a bit of dryness in his eye, approaching an oddly shaped piece of rock- actually, it was more of a pedestal, but-

_ Link. _

“Stop doing that!” He shouted, jumping and looking around- could Zelda stop randomly jumping into his head and scaring him out of his own skin?

_ You are only hope!  _

Link blinked, scowling. He really didn’t want to be hyrule’s only hope. He’d prefer if there was a backup plan, maybe.

Well, there must have been a reason Zelda suddenly yelled at him. At least, he hoped. Atlas trotted in front of him, leading him towards the pedestal- it was actually really hard to see, his eyes were so blurry from his allergies to whatever pollen was in the air. 

He rubbed his eyes, sneezing momentarily before stepping up to the pedestal and looking down at the center.

“Oh, shit.” Link blurted, seeing that he had accidentally stumbled upon the  _ master sword.  _ “That’s convenient.” He remarked, reaching out to pull it from the pedestal. 

“Link, you have done well to arrive here…” 

Link screamed, jolting away from the Master sword and looking up at the source of the voice- 

“You’re a tree!” Link exclaimed, staring wide-eyed.  _ Why was a tree talking to him? _

“A groundbreaking observation.” The tree replied dryly, Link terrified of the way his mouth moved- it could eat him if it wanted to!  _ Did it want to?  _  “Link, time runs short… pull the master sword from the pedestal.”

Link eyed it suspiciously a moment longer, then wrapped his hands around the sword and tugged. The muscles in his arms and back protested, sharp pains jabbing at him and making him flinch.

He didn’t let go. 

He kept pulling upwards, feeling the sword slowly start to get out of whatever notch it had dug itself into. He felt as if he were about to be torn in half, clenching his teeth as he refused to give up, finally freeing it from the ground and wheezing to regain his breath, glancing around wildly- what was that green thing coming towards him? 

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

_ This was bad. This was very, very bad,  was all Link could think as he stared down at himself- his tunic had been ripped apart and he could see his ribs, which were probably broken. He hadn’t been fed in quite a while. _

_ His shoulders ached from being held in an upright position for so long now, his hands securely tied above him so he hung barely above the ground, unable to take pressure off of his arms.  _

_ He didn’t know how long he’d been here. Everything hurt to various degrees- the eye of the yiga had been carved into his forehead, his hair was matted with blood, he was incredibly dehydrated, since they’d hardly given him any water.  _

_ “Here, kitty kitty!” One of the members laughed, waving a piece of bread in front of his face. “Don’t you want this?” Link’s stomach growled as he lunged forward, trying to grab it with his mouth. He managed to get a small bit in his mouth, the man in front of him tsk-ing in disappointment. He pulled a knife from his pocket, holding Link’s chin steady to allow him to split his lip directly down the middle. “Didn’t expect you to be that fast.” They chuckled, Link staring at them in blind fury, trying to hide his face by turning his head a bit. _

_ He was angry. Enraged. He was going to make this man pay. _

_ “Aww, are you scared?” They teased, reaching out to grab Link’s face to force him to look forward, Link biting down on their hand and not letting go as he pulled himself up using the rope and swung his legs directly towards the man’s head. He screamed in pent-up fury, his lip tugging painfully, pulling himself up once more to try and untie his bounds. He loosened himself enough to drop to the floor, using the now unconscious man’s knife to sever them the rest of the way. _

_ He stretched his arms out in front of them, breathing in deeply as he realized his freedom- and then he pulled the knife back and stabbed the man directly through his forehead, stabbing until he was sure he was incapable of following him- or continuing to live. It didn’t matter to Link. _

_ He got up, walking towards the door and flinging it open with a clang- apparently the man had left it unlocked- and plunged his knife straight through the guard’s skull before he had time to react. Link attempted to pull it out, but it had apparently lodged itself firmly in the bone, so he gave up and lifted the guard’s windcleaver. _

_ The next few minutes, perhaps hours, Link couldn’t tell, were a blur of vengeance. He took through their base like a whirlwind, leaving destruction in his wake. More specifically, mangled bodies.  _

_ “Link? Link!” Link froze at the familiar voice, his brain too frantic to register who it was. He stared at the wall, not wanting to turn around to face whoever had come- his shadow stared back at him sinisterly, before someone took him by the shoulder and immediately let go when they realized how bad he was injured. “Mipha! Hurry!” Link turned to face whoever it was, raising his windcleaver- who was this woman in front of him? She looked a bit like him, with blonde hair, but she was significantly cleaner than him. She looked back at him and her eyes widened as he started to swing his windcleaver towards her. An arrow went straight through his palm, forcing him to drop it as he hissed in pain, looking up to see who had intervened- was that a bird? Wait- _

_ A tall woman with red hair shoved him to the ground, cradling his fall slightly to avoid any further injuries as she looked over his injuries and attempted to stabilize his head.  _

_ “Oh, nayru…” A small Zora whispered quietly, blinking rapidly as she lifted her hands over him. What was she doing? _

_ “Be careful. He tried to attack Zel a second ago, he might try that again.” Urbosa warned, looking down at his face with a frown. Link lifted his arm, trying to grab his knife to fight off whoever the people around him were, the woman pinning his arm down. He snarled at her, kicking his feet to try and wrangle himself around to get her otherwise, someone else pinning his legs. _

_ “Everyone keep him still. I need to get his most severe injuries healed so he doesn’t die as we take him back to the castle.” The zora instructed, More hands pinning him down. He could hardly look around, but a goron and the bird from earlier had joined the circle. The bird was definitely an enemy, since it had shot him earlier. He snarled, lurching upwards and quickly being pushed back down.  _

_ “Link, I need you to stay still, okay?” The zora said, leaning over his face and staring into his eyes, almost fondly. Link stared at her in terror- was she about to rip him apart with her teeth?  _

_ Link’s brain was clouded and fuzzy, darkness prickling at the edges of his vision. He was falling asleep, wasn’t he? He couldn’t fall asleep, he was sure… He’d die if he did. He didn’t know how he knew that, but he was positive that it was true. _

_ He awoke in a horse-drawn carriage, bundled tightly in a blanket so that he couldn’t move. He felt significantly cleaner, which was good, but the people who had attacked him yesterday were still here. The zora and the rito both sat on either side of him, while the others remained on the other side of the carriage. He looked around cautiously, not wanting them to notice he was awake- he could sneak attack them if they were off-guard. _

_ That probably wouldn’t work. Instead, he could act peaceful and then kill them when they trusted him with a weapon. That would work, yes. _

_ Just look cute. _

_ He yawned squeakily, his throat hurting. He wiggled a little, trying to free his arms from the blanket so he could push himself up, everyone immediately tensing and ready to grab him if he acted aggressively- this strategy would certainly work better than the first. _

_ “Link?” The zora asked cautiously as he stared around the interior of the carriage carefully.  _

_ “I think he might be back, but just confused.” The goron said, the Zora reaching out to brush Link’s hair out of his face before he snapped at her. Despite his plan, he didn’t want to be touched. She flinched away, staring at him a moment longer before he sat up and curled his legs up to his chest, covering his face with his hands to see if he could feel his injuries. Why were they gone? Had they healed him just to torture him again? _

_ He ran his fingers through his hair, yanking the band that constricted it behind his head so that it could fall free instead.  _

_ “Link? Hey, are you with us?” Link stared at the blonde woman he’d almost attacked earlier- she seemed to be asking a question, and Link figured he had to acknowledge it. He nodded, burying his face in his knees and dropping his hands to the side. Yes, there was indeed a trident on the floor- once they all relaxed, he could free himself. _

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

There was no way that dream was real.

Link shivered at the thought of hurting his friends like that- plus, he didn’t have any scars from that incident. It was simply a nightmare, instead of a flashback. He probably would have noticed the eye of the yiga scar on his forehead by now.

He looked around himself- was he in a bed made of leaves?  _ Had the tree eaten him? _

“Mister Hero! Did you enjoy your rest? You passed out earlier and your eyes started looking dark and scary so we figured you could use a bit of rest!” A korok said cheerfully, giggling.

Link sneezed before responding, “Oh, um, t-thanks. How much do… I owe you?” He got lost in the middle of his sentence, getting confused with his own mind. 

“Oh, I don’t need your rupees, mister hero! I just want you to get some rest!” Link blinked rapidly, his hand halfway to his rupees pouch. 

“Uh, thanks.” He stuttered, getting up and taking the master sword from the foot of his bed. It hurt his arm to hold it, but it  _ was  _ the most powerful sword, right? He supposed it was to be expected, until he got better at using it.

It was getting hard to see out of his left eye- he supposed that was due to his allergies, so he’d high-tail it out of here and then head to goron city. He could ask a stablehand to take care of Atlas- or maybe he could make a fireproof elixir that would work on Atlas? Atlas had apparently slept under the bed, quickly rejoining him when he realized Link had gotten up- he supposed it was best to do the fireproof elixir, rather than possibly letting Atlas track him and get cooked alive. 

His vision in his left eye kept getting worse as he walked out into korok forest, looking around and deciding to ask one of them for directions. 

“Hey, Mister Hero!! Leave all your troubles to me! I’m Maca!” The tiny korok waved his arms, trying to grab his attention.

“Um… how do I leave?” Link asked awkwardly, trying to be polite.

“Oh! Just go up to that tree over there and climb in its mouth. I promise it won’t eat you!” Maca pointed, Link waving goodbye and walking over to it. He picked up Atlas carefully, struggling to hold all of his weight as he climbed into the tree and felt the fog surround him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i've been having... a bad depressive meltdown the past few weeks. i've been anxious about going back to school bc i know I'm going to be bullied a ton, my adhd meds weren't working, and tbh? just kinda wanna stab myself in the neck. this chapter is mostly gory because i identify a lot with link so i just... beat him up. sorry
> 
> also, new plot shit. cool


	13. Lizard meteors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I had a friend help me edit this one, and they'll be helping with all the next chapters too! More in the end notes.

Link  _ did  _ in fact know that cloth was flammable. He simply forgot it wasn’t a part of his body, and thus: It did not reap the effects of the elixir. 

He had left Atlas’ adornments at the stable where he had bought… quite a few elixirs. They worked on Atlas, of course, which was good. Their taste, however, was not quite as ideal. He had to sneak it into a meat pie to get Atlas to eat it, and even then he earned a nasty glare from his companion.

They did  _ not _ work on his clothes. He had left the shorts and shirt he got at the Zora Domain at a stable for himself when he got back, so he would be fine off of Death Mountain.

He’d stripped out of the singed gear and left it to burn on a rock, trudging along in his miraculously fireproof underwear. Unfortunately, despite the elixir, there was still nothing pleasant about walking barefoot along hot rocks while breathing in dust. He’d adjusted to the fact that he had no vision from his left eye, and hardly noticed it- he assumed that he simply got some pollen in his eye and it had swollen. He’d be fine.

He could tell that the bottoms of his feet were probably completely black from either ash or burns, and boy, could he go for diving headfirst into the Zora Domain’s lake. He’d have to ask Sidon, sometime, how it felt to breathe water. He imagined it was soothing, if you actually had the proper respiratory system to breathe it. The hot, dusty air from Death Mountain so far had certainly made him willing to sit at the bottom of a lake for the rest of his life.

Atlas seemed to be having much more fun, prancing about and trying to catch Smotherwing butterflies. It seemed that the elixir actually worked  _ better  _ on Atlas than it did on Link, despite his earlier concerns.

A few gorons milling about looked at Link oddly as he made his way along the path to Goron City- he did suppose a half-naked blonde with scars and a large dog would be an uncommon occurrence for someone who lives on a volcano. Well, didn’t they know- he was about to  _ save their fucking lives! He was so cool! _

He was getting a little in over his head.

He spotted the divine beast through the heated haze, squinting through the dust trying to see what it was doing- it seemed to simply be trotting around the volcano. Why did he need to free the thing again? It seemed to be doing just fine. In fact, it seemed much happier than the divine beasts he had freed, who were now shooting lasers at Hyrule Castle.

It roared, and suddenly, it was very clear to him why it had to be freed. He ran towards the nearest outcropping, Atlas following him as he tucked himself under a rock shelf- as much as Link found the inventions of the Sheikah Tribe to be astounding, He really did wonder why they had given a fucking lizard the ability to rain rocks down from the top of the volcano for no particular reason.

Atlas whimpered as the rocks fell around them- the Gorons had all similarly hid, and Link was just glad he wasn’t under any of the rocks. He pulled Atlas closer to him, shielding him from any rocks scattering under their hiding spot. If Atlas were hurt by this dumbass decision to take his dog onto a volcano, he’d probably never forgive himself.

The shower of rocks seemed to be ending, fortunately for them. Atlas sniffed at the ash-filled air cautiously, stepping out timidly from the hiding spot when Link released him. Link looked around at the gorons, seeing if they had decided it was safe to come out for them too, or if he was being an idiot. 

After guaranteeing, for a fact, that they were safe he continued on the path to Goron City. There were markers all over the place written in a language he couldn’t read- was it even a language? It just looked like random scratch marks to him. Atlas seemed more timid after the rock shower had scared him, so Link figured he’d get to Goron City as fast as he could and pay someone to take care of Atlas while he went and fought Rudania.  He’d hopefully get someone to make Atlas some kind of accessory to go along with the ones he already had.

Atlas had a better wardrobe than he did, which was more accurate than ever. since his best set of clothes was now a pile of ash somewhere along the path to Goron City. 

The sales lady from Kakariko Village might be pissed at him for ruining her designer clothes, as she’d described them, but he supposed it’d be fine because she’d get more rupees when he bought another set. Why did people like these shiny gem things anyway? Why did he have to trade them for everything he bought? It made more sense if he had to trade, say, a fish or two that he’d caught for clothing. 

Then again, he supposed people didn’t really enjoy it when he handed them raw fish.

What he truly didn’t understand, though, was gemstones. Were they supposed to taste amazing or something? He didn’t know why Beedle let him trade one shiny gemstone for even more shiny gemstones that were simply smaller. Maybe he would try to eat one later.

Atlas barked and drew him back to reality, where Link noticed he was about to run into a sign that said “WELCOME TO GORON CITY” in very aggressive capital letters. He’d made it! Mostly. He did still have to free the lizard from the clutches of evil or whatever, and he wasn’t particularly excited to find out about Ganon’s fourth creation… Child?

Did someone have sex with Ganon? That’s how procreation worked, he was pretty sure. Or maybe it was different if you were a being made of darkness, but the rules of fornication for humans probably still applied. He would  _ assume,  _ anyway. He actually didn’t know what Ganon even looked like… probably something like all of his… children?

“Welcome to Goron City, Link!” A goron yelled at him, grinning. Link blinked in shock, looking up at him.

“How did you know my name?” Link drew his hands up defensively- could the Yiga disguise themselves as gorons? Could gorons be members of the Yiga clan? Or, no- weren’t the Yiga just sheikah who were cool with Ganon? Would they be okay with gorons joining their ranks? 

“Oh, I just call all the hylians we get around here Link, because that’s the name of the Hylian Champion.” The goron smiled at him, turning away to get back to whatever he was doing. Link stalled for a moment longer before he continued on, trying to spot where the armor shop or their inn might be. 

Atlas abruptly took off, running towards whatever he had deemed interesting. Link began following quickly, not wanting his dog to get into trouble. Apparently, a general store with a cooking plate next to it had caught his attention, then Atlas launched himself up onto it and seized a steak with his teeth before leaping back down.

“Hey!” The goron at the plate reached out to grab Atlas, his loud call alerting the other gorons near the store to Atlas’ presence. Link ran toward his dog to protect him from any accusations, taking on a defensive stance.

“S-sorry, sir… um…” Atlas chewed on his newfound treat behind Link while he stared down the angry goron. “Uh…” 

The goron laughed, leaning against the wall, “Sorry to scare ya, kid. Is that your dog?”

“Mhm.” Link mumbled, glancing behind him at the proud pooch, who was proudly ripping and tearing away pieces of his stolen meal. He reached into his rupees pouch, trying to count out the amount of rupees he needed to pay the goron back. One red rupee and three green rupees added up to the amount due, if he charged the same as other merchants.

“Thanks, brother! The armor shop is over there, by the way. You, er… seem to need some.” They gestured to him, reminding Link that he was currently only wearing underwear. He grinned sheepishly and waved goodbye, snapping his fingers to get Atlas’ attention as he started walking away. 

He ducked his head as he walked into the armor shop, looking around at the wares- they had a few sets of hylian armor, but it seemed that most of the shelves were empty.

“Hello, young… man?” Link glared at the shopkeeper, shaking his head subtly to make more of his hair cover his face. He pointed at the set of armor he wanted, waiting for the shopkeeper to tell him the price. 

“Two thousand.” The shopkeeper replied, smirking at Link’s temporarily shocked expression. “That okay?”

Link pulled out his pouch of rupees- four gold rupees, one silver rupee, and a handful of green ones. He was a few thousand short, so he slammed his rupees down on the table and started sorting through his backpack, seeing if he could find something worth selling. A handful of monster teeth, a few claws, a red gem thing, and a beetle would probably cover the rest. 

The shopkeeper looked over his offer and then nodded, handing Link what he’d asked for and grumbling when he pulled on the armor in the middle of the store. He imagined he probably looked like a burnt marshmallow in the armor, considering that it was a little bit too big and quite grimy, but it  _ was  _ fireproof.

Atlas followed him out of the store to a building with a crescent moon sign outside of it, before he remembered he didn’t have any rupees left. He’d have to go find a little kid who was willing to watch Atlas for free. He pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing at the thought of trying to scam a little kid into doing work for him… maybe Atlas could just come with?

He started walking towards the top of the small hill Goron City was built on, guessing that the leader probably lived up there. He just hoped he wouldn’t be as terrifying as all of the other gorons. 

Of course, Link could never have anything come to him easily, because the leader of the gorons looked like he could easily snap him like a twig. Link cleared his throat and waved, trying to muster up the ability to speak.

“Hi, I’m here to save the world.”

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

_ “Linky Linky, Rise and shine!” His mother declared proudly, throwing his curtains open so light would beam onto his face.  _

_ Link rolled out of bed and crashed on the floor without a word. _

_ “It’s your eighteenth birthday, Link! I made you breakfast.” She went to help him up from the floor, smiling at his emotionless face. “Your eye isn’t getting any better, is it?” She sighed, pulling his eyelid upwards with her thumb to inspect it. “Let me see your wrists.” _

_ Link held out his arms for maman to inspect, watching as she curled her lip at the blackened veins. She hadn’t aged a day from when he was younger, he noticed- maybe Purah had perfected her anti-aging rune. _

_ Link followed his mother out of his bedroom, looking in his vanity mirror as he passed it- the eye of the calamity had certainly taken over his left eye, the orange slitted pupil standing out oddly against the rest of the eye, which was a goopy black. His tear ducts were completely malfunctioning on that side, so he now permanently leaked goop from it.  _

_ Maman pulled a chair out for Link, going over to the counter and scooping some eggs and bacon onto a plate for him, setting it down on his place mat. He nodded in thanks, picking up his fork to start eating when Papa came and sat down too. Link pretended to ignore him, feeling his shoulders tense up as he prepared himself. _

_ Maman watched him shovel eggs into his mouth, smiling, but her eyes were still concerned. He just needed them to turn around for a moment. _

_ Link stood up after finishing his breakfast, casually walking towards the counter and evaluating the chopping knives strewn across the counter. He could throw one at papa and stab maman with another, he supposed- he just needed a way to make sure they wouldn't fight back. _

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Link and Atlas had nearly been crushed into little tiny pieces by Fireblight Ganon’s flaming axe, but they emerged with merely singed hair. Fortunately, Atlas had stayed out of most of it.

“Sorry for all that, little guy.” Daruk chuckled, leaning against the main control unit. “What’s up with your eye?”

“Huh?” Link blinked, reaching up to touch his eye- he really still couldn’t see out of it? He didn’t even notice at this point. Did it have something to do with the daydream he’d had while activating the terminals?

“It’s all… never mind, don’t worry about it.” Daruk waved the thought away, walking towards him. “I want to give this to you… and I want you to look out for Yunobo, if you can.” Daruk smiled, drawing up an orb similar to all of the others and then cast it towards Link, summoning a shimmery shield around him for a moment before it flickered away.

“Daruk’s protection. Feel free to call upon it whenever you may need, Link. And go finish what we started one-hundred years ago.” Link felt his fingers disappear slowly, as his body transformed into a dusty kind of light. He turned and saw the same happening to Atlas, who was apparently calm despite the fact that he probably hadn’t ever done something like it before.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

All that was left… was to destroy Ganon?

He had the master sword. He’d freed all the divine beasts. He’d done everything Impa had told him to  _ do.  _

He was sitting behind a stable with Evander lying down next to him with Atlas curled up on his back, running his hands through his hair while scratching at his scalp. Flakes of dry skin and loose hair were falling on his shoulders, which were now adorned with a loose cloth shirt and shorts, which he had left behind at the stable before climbing death mountain. He’d be careful not to step on any stones until he got to kakariko so he could buy some new shoes. He had brushed his hair to cover his left eye after he’d gotten a look at himself in a lake’s surface- he didn’t want to freak anybody out.

“Link?” Beedle waved his hand in front of his face to grab his attention. Link jumped a little before realizing who it was, waving slightly in greeting. “Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you. What’re you doing?”

“Er…” Link tried to come up with some sort of explanation, then came up short. “I’m… i’m planning to defeat ganon?”

Beedle blinked, a little surprised. “Ambitious, but… is your sword at least decent? I mean, only the sword of evil’s bane or whatever is supposed to be able to defeat him, and even then the last person who had it ended up dying in the fight.” He remarked, reaching out to pet Atlas, who was still snoozing on Evander’s back.

Link bit his lip, contemplating for a moment- surely he had to tell someone at some point, right? Everyone was going to know who he was after he defeated Ganon. He supposed Beedle was as good as anyone else to start with.

“You ever heard the legend about that swordsman being put into a slumber to heal his wounds?” Link asked quietly, reaching to pull his sword from the sheath to show Beedle.

“Yeah, why? Everyone knows that isn’t true.”

Link took the master sword out from its sheath and laid it down in front of him, watching as Beedle’s eyes started to widen. He reached out to touch the hilt but quickly pulled away when it burned his fingers, then cast his gaze over to Link.

“Oh. Oh my,” Beedle said, blinking rapidly. 

“So I’m uh, supposed to save the world now.” Link shrugged, trying to curl in on himself. “Can I sell some stuff to you? I spent all my rupees on armor up on Death Mountain.”

“Sure. What do you have?”

Link turned his backpack upside down and gave it a shake to dump the contents on the ground. He pulled his other clothes that had been folded in it towards him, since they weren’t for sale. He had a few gemstones in the pile, a few acorns and chickaloo tree nuts, and the jar of meat cubes he had cooked for him and Atlas. He took the jar from the pile and twisted it open, shaking a few pieces into his hand for Atlas to eat.

Beedle counted up the value of the remaining items and handed him his rupees, waving as Link organized his backpack and rupees pouch before standing up and patting Evander’s nose to let him know he needed them to stand up. 

Evander shifted to his feet, shaking his head to get his mane out of his face before allowing Link to climb into the saddle. Link patted the side of Evander’s neck before he dug his heels in slightly to get him to start walking, glancing behind him to make sure Evander was following. 

He would go to the Zora Domain one last time before he went to fight Ganon, just in case something went wrong. He’d stop by Kakariko first, though, to tell Impa what he was going to do. And then he would stop at Hateno Village to make sure Purah didn’t need help, and then Rito Village to see Teba, and then Gerudo town to go see Riju and maybe get a fancy massage again. He was coming up with whatever he could to get out of having to fight Ganon, he realized.

He dug in his heels to have Evander start galloping- he knew the route to Kakariko from staring at it on the sheikah slate’s screen until it had been burned into his memory. He took another glance backwards to make sure that Atlas was running along behind them, then let himself space out as he rode to the village.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Kakariko village was a nice little area, surrounded by mountains and a small forest on one side. He left Evander under a wooden stable-type thing, where he would be safe if it started to rain again.

Link walked with Atlas up the stairs to Impa’s house, waving to Paya who was polishing the garden deities. She waved back, smiling before going back to cleaning out the bowl in front of one of them. 

“Link!” Impa waved as him as he pushed the doors open, sitting upright. “I have heard… you freed all four divine beasts.” She looked at him in the eye, making him a little uncomfortable. “The time has come for you to fight Ganon.”

“I was thinking I’d visit the Zora’s Domain before doing that… and Hateno village, and the rito, and the gorons, maybe the koroks too…” Link explained.

“Zelda doesn’t have all the time in Hyrule, Link. You cannot put this off simply because you are afraid you will fail.” Impa glared at him, scooting off of her pillows. She picked up her cane, leaning on it for support. 

“But what if-”

“What if I shove my foot up your ass, will that get you going?” Impa said, whacking his knees with her cane. “Now go! The princess can’t wait much longer!”

“I-” Impa shooed him out the door, slamming it behind him.

He was going to do this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be longer than usual considering that it's a pretty important mark in the story. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed, and i'll see you next time! (Also if you see the words "cold penis" anywhere in the chapter I'm sorry its an inside joke and I'm pretty sure i managed to get all of the mentions of it out, but if i missed anything lol)


	14. Everything right, Everything wrong

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm gay and heres a story bitches
> 
> I'm ngl this update sucks anyway have fun
> 
> also shoutout to seohlee/artistwave on tumblr for drawing fanart of the story!!! i cried when i saw it. link here: https://artistwave.tumblr.com/tagged/this-is-just-a-bad-sketch-but-%21%21%21

Link had decided that he would stay the night at Kakariko village, since he hadn’t slept in quite a while. He wasn’t exactly a genius, but he could figure out on his own that fighting the calamity while sleep-deprived wasn’t the greatest idea. 

He waved to Lasli, the shop-barker, before he walked into the clothes store. He took a hood, tunic, pair of pants and boots and then went over to Claree.

“What happened to your last pair?” She asked, looking over the items and taking the rupees he handed her.

“I forgot they were flammable.” He mumbled, pulling the boots onto his feet and folding the rest of the clothes over his arm so he could change into them elsewhere. He didn’t quite understand the taboo against it, but he supposed it couldn’t exactly be helped.

“Alright then.” Claree subtly took a step away from Link, as if she was concerned he would burst into flames at any moment. Link turned to walk out the door, heading towards the inn to rent a room. 

He handed two purple rupees to the man at the counter before walking up the stairs to one of the rooms. It was still light out, so maybe he would do some training with Atlas before he slept. 

He pushed the curtain covering the window aside, verifying that Atlas was still near the chicken coop. Link caught his reflection in the window, seeing that his left eye was now oozing black goop. He sighed, pulling the curtains closed before pulling on his new clothes and making sure the hood he had bought covered his face. The last thing he wanted was to freak out the children of the village.

What was he going to  _ do  _ about this whole eye issue? He couldn’t see out of it anymore, which he was already used to, but he couldn’t walk around like this forever. He pulled back one of his sleeves to check his wrists like his maman had done in his daydream, to find that his veins were black. 

Maybe Zelda would have an idea.

Link pulled his sleeve back down, sighing as he walked out the door and down the stairs to the main room of the inn. He’d buy something from the general store to cook into a hearty meal for today, and probably share some with Atlas.

He took the worn dirt path from the inn down to the store, quietly walking in and picking up a basket to carry whatever he’d buy. He wandered around, taking a wrapped cuccoo thigh, a few spicy peppers, some hyrule herbs, a couple of chickaloo tree nuts, and two swift carrots, plus some rock salt.

He paid for it at the register and then walked out to the cooking pot outside, sitting down at the table and spreading his ingredients out to prepare them.

He paused for a moment, briefly wondering how exactly this was going to work. He didn’t exactly have a knife.

He debated with himself for a brief second before nodding gently to himself as if saying, “Sure why not?” Link pulled the Master sword from his back, cutting the cuccoo meat into smaller pieces and rubbing those pieces in the salt. He sliced up the vegetables, broke apart the tree nuts, and diced the carrots, then put them in the cooking pot and scraped the flint under it to light it.

He let the heat from the sizzling ingredients warm his face, stirring them around occasionally in the broth before getting up to grab one of the wooden bowls on the table, presumably left for guests to use. 

He whistled for Atlas to come towards him, hearing his dog abandon whatever he was doing to run towards him. Link poured the meal from the cooking pot into the wooden bowl, picking out some of the cuccoo pieces to feed to Atlas. He lifted the bowl to his mouth and drank the rest, chewing on the pieces as they fell into his mouth, feeling it warm his belly.

“Er, Link… you could’ve asked for a spoon,” Paya said as she sat down across from him, watching Link set the now-empty bowl down and wipe away the excess broth that had dribbled down his chin.

“I’m fine.” Link shrugged, patting Atlas’ head as he jumped up on the table to lick the inside of the bowl. “I wasn’t really planning to have company.” He pulled his hood down to make sure that Paya couldn’t see his eye, just in case.

“Oh, I’m sorry!” Paya blinked rapidly, her face flooding red. “I didn’t mean to disturb you, Master Link.”

“No, no, it’s fine!” He reassured her, realizing that his previous statement was probably quite rude. “I’ll, uh… go.” He said, snapping his fingers once to get Atlas to follow him back to the inn. He breezed up the stairs, ignoring someone yelling at him that pets weren’t allowed, and opened the door to his room. He allowed Atlas to walk in first and jump onto the bed, locking the door behind him and then climbing into the bed as well. 

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Ah, the triforce of courage. Wasn’t he so courageous, cowering in fear at the thought of fighting Ganon. He didn’t want to get out of bed.  _ Ever. _

If he just stayed here, with Atlas curled up beside him, then he wouldn’t have to do anything. And that would be fine for him. If he didn’t eat long enough, he could simply die here! Wouldn’t that be convenient for him.

He heard the cuccos crowing outside of his window, as if telling him to get off of his lazy ass and go save Hyrule. He’d been so proud that the world had apparently decided he was worthy of this task that he’d forgotten he actually had to  _ do  _ the task.

He pushed his blankets down and stood up, snapping his fingers to get Atlas’ attention. He hopped off of his bed, straightened out his hood and hair, and then walked out the door with Atlas at his side. He walked down the path to where he had left his horse, stroking the top of his nose before climbing onto Evander’s back. 

He trotted out of the village, then broke into a full gallop with Atlas racing along behind them. He would slow down and let Atlas sit on Evander’s back too once he got tired, but he wanted Atlas to get a little bit of exercise before the long ride to hyrule castle. It would probably take maybe four hours, so he’d have to be careful not to exhaust Atlas or Evander before he even got there.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

He wondered if there was some big mistake. That the triforce of courage actually belonged to someone else, and the Master Sword picked the wrong owner. He certainly didn’t  _ feel  _ courageous, staring at the gate covered with Malice that opened to a path that lead up to Hyrule Castle.

Atlas sniffed at his ankles as he hopped down from Evander’s back, deciding to leave him just outside the castle, untied. He didn’t want to prevent him from being able to run away from anything, if worst came to worst.

Atlas followed Link up to the gate as he began to dismantle the lock before shoving it open. He carefully avoided any splotches of Malice, stepping onto the path that followed the gate. It was surprisingly even, since most people didn’t walk around here any more, although there were lots of areas where weather had clearly taken a toll. 

He began walking down the path, making sure Atlas followed close behind him. He avoided the guardians’ lines of sight, ducking behind archways and walking along walls whenever he could.

He pushed the doors into the castle open, glancing around and quietly moving along the shadows. He could feel himself shaking- he wasn’t even close to the Sanctum, which his sheikah slate was directing him to. What did Ganon even want from Hyrule, anyway? 

Atlas barked before bounding down the hallway, leaping up to bite a lizalfos in its neck. He shook the thing from side to side as Link rushed forward to kill it before it could retaliate against Atlas, taking the Master Sword from its sheath and carefully stabbing into the lizalfos’ stomach, not wanting to accidentally cut Atlas.

Atlas let it go from his death-grip, looking up at Link as if waiting for a pat on the head. He rolled his eyes- or eye? He was pretty sure he could still  _ move  _ his calamified eye, he just couldn’t see out of it.  He scratched Atlas behind his ears, and then snapped to get him to follow him once more. 

Link sheathed the Master Sword, continuing his walk along the path to the sanctum. The carpet beneath his boots was torn up, revealing the stone masonry underneath. He wondered how on earth Hyrule castle could ever be restored- it seemed that every inch of the castle had been tarnished in some way. Although, it had been built before, so it was probably easier to simply fix it.

Then again, he didn’t really find himself wanting to stick around here, even after Ganon was gone. He’d rather be back at the Zora Domain, swimming in the chilly waters and splashing up waterfalls. Playing with the young zora, visiting Sidon…

He felt his mood lift almost instantly at the thought of the zora prince, a smile spreading across his face and his cheeks warming. He could spend the rest of his life in the Zora Domain, next to Sidon. He could get used to sleeping in water beds, and walking through water everywhere, and the luminous domain that always seemed calm and tranquil, like the water that flowed all around it. Atlas seemed to have liked it last time they had gone, perhaps since he’d spent the first few months of his life in a desert, and undoubtedly it would be a wonderful place for them to settle down. 

Sidon could pick him up and spin him around, showing him all of the angles of the Zora Domain he was too short to see, pull him close to his chest and make him feel safe, make sure he’d never have to fight again in his life. Link wanted that. He wanted it so, so much. 

“We’re barely friends.” Link jolted himself back into consciousness by speaking aloud to himself in a scolding tone, scoffing.  _ As if he’d ever like a little twig like me,  _ Link shook his head, looking down at his feet as he continued. There wasn’t even anyone to avoid eye contact with.

He began climbing the stairs that took him out of the castle and up to just outside of the sanctum. He stared into the room, steeling himself for whatever was about to go down. He looked back at Atlas, who was looking up at him with such love in his eyes…

“If we make it through this, I’m buying you gourmet meat for all of your meals.” He promised, feeling something rise up in his chest. 

He was surrounded with the war cries of all his past selves, all the ones who had battled Ganon and won, who had loved, who had lost, who had grieved, who had overcome. Every hero before him, bound by the same sword, the same honor, the same destiny. The noise filled his mind, drowning out every thought of worry he’d ever had about this exact moment with a deafening roar.

It sounded like courage.

He strode into the Sanctum, looking up to see what looked like… a cocoon? Covered in malice, it pulsated and throbbed, until light shone out from it.

“Link. Link! I’m sorry…” Link looked around for the source of the sound before turning back to the cocoon, squinting. “My power isn’t strong enough,” Zelda’s voice rang out, clear as day.

“I can’t hold him.”

Link stared in horror as guardian-esque lasers shot out from the cocoon, searing the walls and the floor, some of them hardly missing him or Atlas by a few inches. He threw his arms up to protect himself, squinting in between his wrists to try and see what was going on. Had they stopped?

He lowered his arms slowly, eye widening as the cocoon split open and Ganon fell down to the sanctum floor. He stepped forward cautiously, eyeing the spider-like form Ganon had taken on cautiously. Could he move? Had Ganon accidentally killed himself?

He shrieked as the floor started crumbling underneath him, whirling around to see if Atlas was on the crumbling part too. He dashed towards his dog, who was whining at the crumbling ground under him, picking Atlas up quickly even though it was quite the feat, holding Atlas as they fell into the chamber below. Ganon was plummeting towards the floor at a high velocity, Link and Atlas following suit quickly. What could he  _ do?  _ Mipha would heal him, but Atlas would die on impact. He couldn’t let it happen.

The ground rushed up to them, Link squeezing Atlas to his chest and praying to Hylia that Atlas would be fine. 

He stopped suddenly, blinking rapidly to figure out what had happened, realizing that he was now on the ground but completely fine. A shimmery sphere enveloped him, and a moment of thinking led him to the conclusion that it was Daruk’s protection.

He sat up, quickly looking over Atlas for any injuries, and once guaranteeing there were none, standing up to face Ganon. The… monster in the middle of the room was coming to its senses, his feet slamming down on the floor and making definitive noises.

He was so dead.

Ganon let out an ear-piercing scream, making Link take a step backwards involuntarily. He started reaching for the Master sword before hearing the other champions yelling in his ear.

“Now my moment has finally come… brace yourself, Ganon, for the sting of my revenge!” Link recognized Revali’s confident voice, almost feeling wind blowing himself towards Ganon.

“This will be our final opportunity… we will not fail!” Mipha’s voice washed over him, filling him with focus. He centered his one eye on Ganon.

“Let’s go, little guy! Now, open up wide, Ganon!” Daruk’s strength would aid him in this, surely… he took his shield from his back, holding it at the ready. 

“A hundred years in the making… hold on, princess. Our moment has arrived!” Urbosa’s voice rang out around him as he drew the sword from his back and watched blue fire rain down upon Ganon’s head. The war cries of all the previous heroes surrounded him once again, chasing away the memory of him falling to this exact foe, one-hundred years prior.

He was ready this time.

Ganon snarled at Link, crawling towards him as the last of the blue fire stopped falling, burning away the malice on his body and singing his red hair, taking out huge chunks of his torso.

Ganon lifted his axe into the air, Link dodging to the side and rushing in to slash at his face. If he blinded Ganon, the fight would probably be easier… if this was his face? He was sort of confused, but it was as good a place as any to hit him. Ganon drew back another of his arms, wielding a sword, but Atlas jumped in and grabbed his arm with his teeth, shaking back and forth while growling. 

The small arm tore loose, Atlas tossing it to the side before running out of range from any of Ganon’s other attacks, prowling around to make sure he could jump in whenever Link needed help. 

Link ducked under Ganon to disorient him as he ran away, looking for another opportunity to strike. Ganon lifted himself up, about to topple down on Link, before he threw his arms over his head and summoned Daruk’s protection. Ganon was stunned, giving Link a chance to cut off another one of his legs before running away.

Ganon lifted one of his larger arms that seemed to have a guardian turret at the end of it. Link expected one of the laser type guardian shots, electing to stay still until right before he shot, and then he would duck out of the way.

It seemed that this model had a feature like Windblight Ganon’s, though, and Link was hit with two quick bursts to his head and chest.

He fell over, his vision going black for a moment. He could feel his pulse pounding in his forehead before his vision glowed and he felt the wounds seal together, silently thanking Mipha. He looked up to see Ganon’s axe swinging towards him. Desperately, he tried to scramble out of the way before the axe came down, snapping at Ganon to summon Urbosa’s lightning. 

Ganon screamed as the electricity coursed through his body, giving Link a chance to slash at his torso and do some heavy damage before Ganon turned to him, Link dashing away to avoid whatever attack he was going to try.

Ganon seemed to be trying to make it hard to hit him with the master sword, so Link sheathed it and drew out his bow before touching his hands to the ground to summon up the gale force to bring him high above Ganon’s head. He rained arrows down on Ganon’s head as Revali kept him afloat for a few moments, then angled himself to drop down directly onto Ganon and stab the Master sword through his abdomen.

Ganon screeched, using one of his swords to knock Link off of his back after he’d landed, slashing into his stomach and making his vision go dark for a moment once again before Mipha healed him. Atlas ran over to protect Link while he was down, his golden gerudo armor glinting in the blue light Ganon’s gun began to charge up.

Link knew what that meant.

He stood up quickly and stepped in front of Atlas, holding his shield up and watching as the heavily cracked aura of Daruk’s protection surrounded him. 

He couldn’t fail. Everyone was counting on him. 

He parried the attack back at Ganon, shocking him for a moment before he started to glow orange. Link attempted to stab at him, but his sword only clinked off harmlessly.

Link snapped, lightning crashing down from above and shocking Ganon, forcing him to drop his shield. Link ran forward and slashed the Master Sword across Ganon’s torso, then sheathing the sword and stepping backwards as malice spewed from Ganon’s body, making Link cover his face with his arms to avoid getting it in his one still-functioning eye.

He watched as Ganon’s body broke apart into red speckles, similar to what his did after the fight with the blight Ganons, the red fragments floating up in the mist his body had created, Link catching his gaze drift upwards to follow the mist. Was it forming something?

His feet started to dissipate, and a quick glance to the side verified that Atlas was doing the same. The light carried him out of the chamber of the castle, leading him out of a window to Hyrule field. Link looked around, Atlas appearing next to him. He whistled, squinting into the distance to see if Evander was coming towards him. His horse could have wandered further than he originally thought, he figured, but Evander’s galloping form was already racing towards him.

“Link. Ganon… turn around.” Link jumped, whirling around and seeing that the mist had started to take on a shape. Evander came to a stop a moment later at his side, looking in the same direction he was.

“Ganon was born out of a dark past. He is a pure embodiment of the ancient evil that is reborn…” Link could hardly focus on what she was saying as his brain buzzed with energy.

“I entrust you with the bow of light, a powerful weapon in the face of evil.” Zelda said, a bow drifting down in front of him. He picked it up, looking at it curiously before climbing onto Evander’s back. “Link… you may not yet be at a point where you have fully recovered your power, or all of your memories… but courage need not be remembered.” Link dug in his heels to get Evander running so he could circle this dark beast Ganon had become. 

“For it is never forgotten.” 

Link got chills down his spine, making sure that he had a steady grip on the bow. Zelda began trying to hold back the dark goop covering his body, giving Link chances to shoot directly at Ganon.

Link drew the bow’s string back, finding that an arrow made of pure light filled where an arrow would be, and then let go. The arrow of light hit its mark, making Ganon roar, enraged. Link dug in his heels once more to get Evander to run faster, circling around Ganon and shooting whatever glowing spots he saw.

Ganon roared at him, turning to him and stomping towards him. Evander balked, throwing Link off of his back before Ganon’s hoof crashed down on them both. 

Link had drawn up Daruk’s protection seconds before being crushed.

Evander did not have any such capability.

Link’s eyes widened as Ganon’s hoof lifted off of them, and he could see the mangled body of his horse. He cried out, covering his mouth with his hand- he whirled around, making sure that Atlas was fine before he drew out his bow, enraged, and shot at a glowing area, watching Ganon roar. The beast took in a deep breath, breathing out a blast of putrid fire that burned the area around him. 

Link screamed for Atlas to come towards him, his dog running away from the flames to join Link as he stared at Evander’s body before tearing his gaze away, feeling tears well up in his normal eye. He wiped them away, cursing himself quietly as he fired more shots in Ganon’s direction.

“Link! Look up there!” Link glanced up to Ganon’s head, seeing a bright split line that seemed to be hurting Ganon. Link ran towards him, touching the ground for a moment and pulling out his paraglider to activate Revali’s gale, inspecting the beam of light.

The eye of the calamity.

“That’s the very core of Ganon’s being! Do what you must, Link!”

He pulled the string back and fired.

The beast's body dematerialized, leaving a man in the middle of where the beast had been. 

Link could see Zelda materialize out of the corner of his eye as he walked forward slowly to the man, unsheathing the Master Sword when he was about ten feet away.

Ganondorf pushed himself up from the ground, shakily getting to his feet. He glared at Link with a ferocity that could kill, Link tensing up and staring back at him. 

_ “How?”  _ Ganondorf demanded with a growl, making Link take a step back. “Just come here and end me, already.” He scowled, opening his arms wide. Link walked forward, preparing himself to stab through Ganondorf’s chest, before the much taller man knocked the sword away from him and shoved Link to the ground, wrapping his hands around Link’s neck. He strained against him, trying to get his hands off of him, to no avail. He tried to see if Zelda could get to him in time to help him, but it seemed she was still all the way across the field.

Atlas barreled into Ganondorf, knocking him off Link and giving him the chance to grab the Master Sword. Link seized it, whistling for Atlas to get off of Ganondorf before stabbing the master sword straight through his chest. 

Zelda reached his side as he pulled the Master Sword from Ganon’s chest, extending her hand and summoning up a ball of light that expanded to enshroud Ganon as he morphed into black mist, getting trapped in the sphere. The disgusting creature he became once again fought to escape from the light, before inevitably being sucked into it.

Link backed away from Zelda, his hair blowing in his face as the ball slowly shrank and died out, sealing Ganon away.

Link stared at the empty space where Ganon had been, slowly turning to look at Zelda, who looked equally as shell-shocked as he was. 

He turned around, facing the direction that Evander’s body lay, slowly making his way towards it. 

He crumpled to his knees in front of Evander, resting a hand on his now-still chest. Atlas sat next to him, pressing his nose to Evander’s mane as if mourning as well.

“I pray that Malanya watches over him,” Zelda knelt down next to him, looking sideways at him. “Link… you’ve done it. I’m so proud of you… and I’m sure the other champions are, as well.” 

Link tried to maintain his composure as he pulled Evander’s gear off to keep, his face crumpling as a sob wracked his body. Zelda guided him down to rest his head in her lap as she ran her fingers through his hair, trying to comfort him. Atlas curled up next to him, allowing Link to tangle his fingers in his fur as he cried.

How could he have let Evander die? He shouldn’t have ever gotten him involved. He could’ve easily fought Ganon without him. He cried until his tears dried up, when he pushed himself to his feet and extended a hand to help Zelda up.

“We should make our way to Kakariko Village and let Impa know of our success. She can spread the word, and we can start work to rebuild Hyrule.” Zelda said confidently, petting the top of Atlas’ head. “But I think you need a break. Where should we head after Kakariko?”

“The Zora Domain.”

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Link walked alongside Zelda on the path through Kakariko village, the people of the town whispering as they walked by. Zelda ignored their glances, walking towards Impa’s house.

Paya stared at Zelda and Link as they walked up the stairs, Link giving her a tiny wave to say hello. Zelda glanced at Paya, waving as well, before opening the doors and greeting Impa.

“Zelda!” Impa exclaimed, immediately hopping off of her pillows. “It seems you have not aged a day either! It is very good to see you again.” She said, hugging Zelda.

Link stood awkwardly in the corner, casting his face downward so his hair would fall over his eye. Impa ignored him as she talked to Zelda, even as he slowly walked out of their house and down to where Atlas had waited for him at the steps.

He patted Atlas on the head, then walked up the path to the nearby woods. The trees grew thick here, so he couldn’t quite see where he was going.

He couldn’t hide his eye from Zelda forever. Maybe he could go back and buy a face mask or an eye patch of some sort, but that would only raise more suspicion. 

Atlas suddenly stuck his nose to the ground and started tracking a scent, making Link curious. What had he found? He started chasing the rabbit he’d apparently scented, Link smiling softly and slipping his hands into his pockets. He’d done whatever it was he was meant to do- his divine purpose. His daydream of the Zora’s domain could become a reality.

He closed his eyes, imagining he was breathing in the damp, salty air, ankle deep in the chilly water that flowed throughout. The elegant carving of the fish’s tail dripped water constantly, a gentle drizzle falling around the domain, seeping into his skin and washing away the dirt he always carried on him.

And the prince, the lovely prince, whose crimson scales shone a faint lilac in the blue lights of the Zora domain. He missed the sweet color of his scales, the rich sheen looking like it could rub off on Link’s fingers. Link leaned against a tree, breathing in the scent of the damp nature all around him- finally, Hyrule was at peace, and he could be too.

  
  



	15. Wind

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> welcome, guys, gals, and nonbinary pals, to the shittiest chapter i've written yet
> 
> heres a playlist i made for this fic: https://playmoss.com/en/creamsiclecat/playlist/one-week-sidlink
> 
> heres a discord server for fellow lgbt legend of zelda fans: https://discord.gg/uryK2cd
> 
> also, i changed my url for tumblr from creamsiclecat to tinyhellboy. just a heads up

Zelda had been messing around with his sheikah slate all day, experimenting with the technology she hadn’t had access to for the past hundred years. Atlas kept trying to lick her face, which seemed to amuse her.

“I’m thinking, Link, I should probably get a dog of my own. I feel like I’m stealing yours right now.”

“He’s funny like that.” Link replied, scratching Atlas behind the ears. “We should take him for a walk later.” 

“Perhaps, yes. He’s probably used to doing much more than walking short distances each day.

“He likes to hunt.” Link said, kissing the top of his head and adjusting his harness a bit. He could hear the Zora craftsman tinkering in the back of the shop, next to a Goron who seemed to be watching intently.

Link stood up, going over to the Goron with Atlas at his side.

“Wow, I don’t see dogs everyday!” They exclaimed, grinning. “What’s his name?”

“Atlas.” 

“Mighty pretty name.”

“Can I pay you to make him a collar?"

“Yeah, sure. Fifty rupees work?”

“Sure.”

“I’ll keep him here for a bit to make sure all the measurements are right. It’ll be ready in a bit!” The goron said, waving him off and starting to grab his materials.

Link walked back out to where Zelda was, becoming antsy. He was waiting for Sidon to exit whatever meeting he was in to see him again. He paced back and forth, his boots splashing in the shallow water. A slight drizzle had slicked his face and hair, leaving his clothes mildly damp. 

Zelda was watching him pace back and forth, amusement clear on her face. 

Link closed his eyes, resting his head against a wall. The stones were always cool in the Zora Domain, and he found the slight chill against his forehead comforting. Zelda had yet to notice his eye, thankfully. He pushed the image of Evander from his mind, the poor horse’s mangled body probably still out in Hyrule field. He wanted to see Sidon before he went to mourn at Mipha’s statue, irrationally wanting to make sure he was still there even though Link  _ knew  _ he would be fine. 

Zelda had already begun work on her royal duties, which truthfully seemed to exhaust her. He knew that one-hundred years ago, she’d been much more interested in research, and it still seemed to be so. However, she pushed on, despite the fact that she’d been fighting the calamity for one hundred years. 

“Le arc de lumière… c’est le tien.” Zelda muttered while scribbling in her journal. Link’s ears pricked up as he turned back to look at her curiously. He had never heard anyone speak like that in this life, but he could understand what she meant without any issue. She looked up to meet his only visible eye, realizing that he was confused.

“Oh, I meant the bow of light. It’s yours. Keep it.” Zelda said, Link shaking his head and opening his mouth to speak before deciding against it. Atlas poked his nose against Link’s hand, earning a pat on the head before the door Link expected Sidon to come out of abruptly opened. 

“Sidon, you cannot possibly expect the council to let you off to look for-” Laflat shouted after an annoyed Sidon, trying to reason with him.

“Link just disappeared without a trace while injured and no one cared to inform me that he was gone until _ a week  _ after the fact?”

Link flattened himself against the wall as much as he could, Zelda standing up and sighing. 

“Prince Sidon, please look slightly to the left.” Zelda bowed respectfully, watching as Sidon stared at her in shock before turning to look at Link, who was oddly pale in embarrassment. 

“Link!” Sidon blinked rapidly, looking between the two Hylians. “I’ve been worrying about you all day. My apologies for not finding out you’d left sooner, I’ve been swamped with work.”

“Oh, I’m… sorry for worrying you-”

“It seems you’ve been a bit busy as well.” Sidon remarked, looking over at Zelda with hope in his eyes. He seemed to not want to ask the obvious question, glancing back at Link.

“Ganon has been defeated.” Zelda confirmed, standing up and smiling. Sidon’s eyes lit up as he looked back at Link, giving him the widest grin he had seen yet. Link smiled back shyly, feeling the tips of his ears heat up. 

“Well, I’ll let you two catch up. I have to go discuss things with your father.” Zelda nodded to Sidon politely, walking away from him.

Sidon looked over at Link as Zelda walked off, Atlas trailing after her with his tail wagging. He waited awkwardly for a moment before Link broke the silence. 

“I hope you don’t mind, but I’d like to go be by Mipha’s statue for a bit, if we can... ‘catch up’ later?” Link stuttered out, Sidon nodding and waving goodbye as he went to follow Zelda. 

Link walked along the wet path to Mipha’s statue, looking up at her immobilized face that gazed down at the domain, a permanently protective watch upon her people.

Link sat down in front of her statue, crossing his legs and looking down at his clasped palms, his freckled arms, his scarred legs. He looked back up at Mipha’s statue, closing his eyes slowly and conjuring up everything he could remember about her.

The first time he had seen her, he was a scared orphan without a friend in the world. She was the tiny princess to this mysterious race of amphibians, immediately welcoming him to his new home.

They had spent the next four years growing up together, playing in the water and practicing their spearmanship. He remembered that he had gone up to fight the lynel on Ploymus Mountain, as Mipha healed each of his injuries without complaint. 

He remembered the times when they were all champions, fighting side by side to stop the calamity. He remembered the twist in his gut, the profound feeling of wrongness, that had come while he was facing down guardians with Zelda and he could  _ feel  _ the spear that had pierced Mipha go through him as well. It jarred him out of his focus so badly that he’d almost instantly taken a blast to the chest from a guardian laser.

The two of them had died at the same moment.

And yet, Link got a second chance. 

How could everything have gone so wrong? Link should have died peacefully in his sleep after defeating Ganon and bringing peace to the world, helping her run the Zora’s domain until the very end. She  _ should  _ have outlived him by a hundred years, but instead, it had gone the other way.

Link’s body was most likely eighteen, so he easily had another sixty or seventy years in front of him. There was nothing to  _ do  _ with that time, though. He had completed his divine purpose, and now he didn’t have anything else to do. Mipha deserved that time far more than he did.  _ Anyone  _ deserved it more than him.

“Link.” Mipha’s voice jolted him out of his daydreams, looking up at her. “You need to move on.” Her spirit crossed her arms, looking around them. “The fight is won. Don’t worry about me. Go enjoy this second chance, _please.”_ She pleaded with him, reaching out as if she wanted to touch his face but thought better of it.

“But-” Link started, before Mipha’s spirit faded from in front of him. 

He felt a sour burning in the back of his throat, making it difficult to swallow as his only functioning eye blurred. Not wanting to cry in the middle of the square, he made it along the pathway to the room they had designated for him in a hurry. He felt tears start to run down his face as he flung the door open and slammed it shut behind him, his breath catching in his throat. 

He made his way towards the mirror, untying his hair and brushing it away from his calamified eye to inspect how bad the damage was. 

The area around the eye seemed to be radiating out with black, the skin cracked and dry. The other eye seemed fine, and he hoped it would stay that way. He could use his vision.

All of the veins visible from his skin seemed to be darker than they would be normally. He looked over to the bathtub, realizing that taking one was probably a good idea.

He pulled off his shirt, inspecting a few more of his veins before pulling off his pants as well and looking over his entire body and, for the very first time in over a hundred years, recoiled in disgust. 

He hadn’t eaten properly in ages, which made his hip bones grossly prominent. His stomach hurt especially, which he’d grown used to by now. He often had to deal with the odd time that his body would decide that now was the perfect time to bleed, and it ran a sinister crimson down his freckled thighs. 

He sighed, staring at his chest. His scars were too prominent for his liking, surgical or not. Why had he been chosen to do this? He just wanted a simple life on a farm, a muscled body from plowing fields like every other Hylian. He didn’t ask for...  _ this.  _ Why was the hero of Hyrule easily the weakest person in Hyrule?

Link was not familiar with this strong feeling of disgust towards his own body, since he hadn’t had much time to think about anything but defeating Ganon. 

He shook his hair out, making his way to the tub and stepping into it gingerly, sinking down into it and submerging his head under for a moment. He rubbed the blood from his thighs, the dirt from his, well, everywhere, the grime from the bottom of his feet. 

He tried to get himself clean as fast as possible before scooting out of the bath tub and heading for the wardrobe of clothes and towels.

He supposed it was very kind of the Zora to provide towels for him, as they had no real use for them by themselves. Did they perhaps have some kind of storage for non-zora guests?

He wiped the water off of himself with the fluffy towel, grabbing a roll of cotton bandages and bunching them up in his underwear before putting it on. 

He tossed his previously-worn clothes into a basket to wash them later, opening the wardrobe and sorting through it to try and find some clothes that would fit for tonight.

A pair of gray pants made of a soft, baggy fabric and a well-fitting hoodie were what he decided on, pulling them on and going back to look at himself in the mirror.

He liked to have his hair down, since the ponytail often made the back of his head hurt after a while, but his left eye was now on full display. 

He sighed, turning to his backpack that he’d left on the floor to root through it and find some kind of fabric that could conceal it. 

He took the blue strip of fabric that had been tied around the great eagle bow, managing to wrap it around his head to cover his eye. He looked back at the mirror, glad that he seemed to be mostly concealed in his clothes. His face, unfortunately, couldn’t be fully concealed no matter what he did. He stared at himself with a scowl, despising how feminine his eye appeared, his round face only making him look more so. 

He lifted a hand to his face, tracing over the scars Mipha had accidentally given him during trident practice one day, digging his nails in to see if he could possibly re-open them. Blood started coming to the surface- probably because his nails were uncut and his skin was thin.

He heard a gentle knock on his door before the handle clicked and opened, Sidon ducking to avoid bumping his dorsal fin on the doorframe. Link turned slowly, eyes wide, hoping he wouldn’t question what Link had been doing.

“I’m just here to drop A- Link, is something wrong?” Sidon asked abruptly, a look of alarm flashing over his face. Atlas poked his head around from Sidon’s legs, looking at his owner equally concerned. 

“Um…” Link blinked, dropping his hand to his side and searching his brain desperately for some kind of excuse. 

“What happened to your face?” Sidon stepped towards him, Link taking a step back instinctively as his heart started beating harder. His vision swarmed with black and red spots as he started to lose his balance. He couldn’t hear Sidon’s voice properly.

“I was bandaging my eye when I accidentally opened a fresh cut,” Link blurted, trying to cover up the obvious lie. Sidon kept walking towards him, towering over him. His heart beat faster as he accidentally backed into a wall, looking up at Sidon with wide eyes, seeing his mouth slightly open, his sharp teeth on full display- was he about to  _ bite  _ him? Link’s vision blurred in blind terror as his thoughts started to scramble.  _ Get out.  _ Link’s knees gave out under him, landing on the hard floor with his vision going completely dark.  _ Kill him.  _

Link tried to find an escape route from him before something grabbed both sides of his head and steeled him back to the ground, a quiet voice pleading with him. 

“Link, Link, what happened? Are you alright? Do you need a medic?” Sidon’s face came back into focus, stooped over him protectively.

“What just happened?” 

“You passed out, I... think.” Sidon said, obviously concerned. He looked over Link for a moment, checking for any obvious injuries. His face was so close, Link noticed, looking into his eyes for a moment before lifting his hand to rest between Sidon’s head and one of his flippers, curious as to what the scales would feel like as he tipped his chin up and pressed his lips to Sidon’s gently.

  
Link felt Sidon stiffen before relaxing, his lips opening slightly as they shared a small breath with their lips together before separating with their eyes wide open. 

“Um-”

“I-” Link started, his breath catching in his throat as Sidon traced the end of his claw over Link’s cheek before pulling him back in for another kiss.

He gasped, Sidon trailing a kiss down his chin to his neck, where he gently prodded Link’s skin. Not hard enough to puncture it, of course, just enough to sting a bit- Of course, until Atlas shoved his face up to Link’s to see whatever tasty food Sidon was trying to lick off of his face.

They both shared a laugh as Atlas trailed his slobbery tongue all over Link’s face and neck before he was pushed away gently. Link crossed his legs, looking down with his face burning as the gravity of what just happened hit him. 

“Link, that was okay, right? I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have-” 

“N-no! No, you’re fine.” Link stuttered, looking back up at the Prince. “Um…” 

“I should go.” Sidon said, standing up abruptly but offering a hand to help Link up.

“Please don’t.” Link said, eyes wide as he kept his grip tight on Sidon’s hand, looking up at the man who was at least twice as tall as him. 

“...Alright.”

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

_ “Wow, you’re so tall!” Kass exclaimed, laughing. Revali picked Kass up and held him up over the both of them- Revali was also shorter than Link.  _

_ “Here, now you’re taller than him.” Link grinned, crossing his arms and pretending to be upset.  _

_ “I’m just glad I’m the tallest one in the room for the time being. Am I allowed to have anything?” He joked, holding out his arms so Revali could pass Kass to him. The tiny parrot wrapped his wings around Link to hold on, fluffing up the feathers on his head to appear bigger.  _

_ “I wanna go fly!” Kass exclaimed, tweeting happily. Revali chirped, thinking for a moment.  _

_ “Link isn’t exactly able to join us if we do that.” Revali pointed out, smoothing over Kass’ feathers with one of his wings.  _

_ “He can use the paraglider!” Kass insisted, fluffing his feathers back up before leaping from Link’s arms to the ground, where he came up only to Link’s knees. Link shrugged, taking the paraglider from his backpack and strapping it to his back alongside his bow. _

_ “Alright, fine.” Revali said, taking a running leap off of the platform, Kass following. Link hesitated a moment for a strong updraft, before leaping into the air, the paraglider pulling him upwards and blowing his hair all around chaotically. The wind made him feel so free, he wondered what it’d be like as a Rito, completely in control of the wind around you. _

_ Revali soared upwards with Kass near him, tweeting to grab his attention. Link grinned suddenly, realizing how well this had turned out.  _

_ He drew the bow from his back quickly, nocking an arrow and letting it loose directly towards Revali, who squawked in fear and took the arrow directly into his head, spiraling down to the ground.  _

_ Kass screamed, diving down to follow where Revali was falling as Link turned back to the wooden platform, landing on it before looking back up at the Gerudo man. _

_ “Good job, Link,” He said as Link bowed to him before standing back up. “I know this plan will work now.” The sinister voice filled Link with a sense of dread as he slowly drifted between his nightmare and his consciousness. _

_ What was the plan this man was talking about? _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shit happens, you're welcome


	16. Am I interrupting something?

While Link’s nightmare had definitely disturbed him, the feeling of waking up wrapped up in Sidon’s arms with Atlas sitting on his feet was easy to get lost in. It was thundering outside, the rain pouring down hard and making a lovely white noise. He could feel Sidon’s heart beating from where he had his arm laid over Sidon’s chest, smiling at the odd feeling- it was far different than a Hylian’s heartbeat.

He shuddered, yawning a bit before snuggling deeper into the warm blankets. Like everything in the Zora Domain, it had a sheer texture that felt rather nice against his roughened skin. He felt Sidon shift next to him, his hand coming up to rest on Link’s face. Link slowly slitted his eye open to meet Sidon’s golden gaze.

“Is there anything you want to do today?” Sidon asked, running his fingers through Link’s hair. “I don’t have much work to do.”

Link pushed himself up, reaching over to pet Atlas. His dog jumped up, startled, before settling down again under Link’s touch. 

“I… don’t know, honestly.” He leaned back down, patting his chest to get Atlas to lie down on him, smiling at his dog’s chocolate-colored eyes that gazed at him so adoringly. His mind was drawn back to the dream he’d had last night as he regarded Atlas, a twisted feeling in his gut. He needed to make sure that nothing of “The Plan” could happen- if not for Link’s sake, then for Atlas’. Sidon could defend himself, Zelda could defend herself- but he feared Atlas wouldn’t know what to do if his own master turned on him due to the calamity.

Sidon picked up one of his hands, looking at it.

“I suppose, since I know that you return my feelings, I should show you something I’ve been working on.” He pushed the covers off of himself, revealing that he’d been awkwardly curling up his legs to fit in Link’s small bed. Link felt guilty, knowing that his job was not over. He just wanted to spend the rest of his life here, at home.

Link saw that Atlas’ collar had been fastened around his neck, a dusty red band protruding out some dull spikes. He smiled at his dog’s outfit as he slid out of bed, stretching out his legs for a moment trying to work out his circulation. He yawned, reaching upwards to work out the muscles in his arms before dropping them back to his side.

Atlas hopped down to the floor as Link followed Sidon out of the door, reaching out to grab Sidon’s hand- he’d only just woken up, he was a little bit unstable.

He saw Sidon’s fanclub chatting off in the square, ducking his head down as he realized how odd he probably looked, clinging to Sidon’s hand like some scared child. He stumbled a bit over his own foot, picking up the pace to follow Sidon a little faster. It was still pouring out here, so Link was getting soaked once more. 

What was the surprise Sidon wanted to show him, anyway?

Sidon led him up a small tower near the throne room, pushing the door open slightly to allow Link in before following. The door was left unlocked, which Link thought odd for the Prince’s bedroom. 

Link rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, which was tickled by his loose hair. He stood awkwardly near the now-shut door as Sidon reached for a box on his dresser.

“I… really do hate to say this, because I know that you don’t much like fancy things. However, it’s sort of a requirement that I declare I’m courting you.” Sidon said, almost apologetically. He seemed nervous, as if Link would change his mind at any second.

“Cool.” Link shrugged, taking a step towards Sidon, who looked back at him a little shocked. He picked up a small box and opened it, crouching down to get on Link’s level and presenting the intricate necklace to him.

Link looked at it for a moment, smiling as he noticed a single vibrant red scale in the center of it, clearly one of Sidon’s. He took it gently, securing it around his neck and reaching out to touch Sidon’s face. The scales all ran together in a seamless fashion, feeling soft and smooth, with the exception of the scar on his fin. 

He loved the way that Sidon’s arms pulled him in, squeezing him lightly in a comforting gesture as their lips met once more. How come Link had waited so long to do this? It felt so  _ right,  _ it was insane that he’d never thought to do it before. Sidon lifted Link up so that he wouldn’t have to crouch down to meet the much shorter man, a gesture Link much appreciated. 

Link _ didn’t  _ appreciate it when Laflat burst into Sidon’s room unannounced.

“Sidon, I swear, you still have to attend your classes, I don’t care if you think it’s more important to gree-” Laflat’s sentence faded off as she stared at the two, swallowing hard before continuing. “Er, am I interrupting something?”

“Yes.” Link glared at her, his feet dangling embarrassingly above the ground. Perhaps he could invest in stilts to avoid this situation? Sidon set him down, looking over to Laflat. 

“I’ll be there in a moment, Laflat. Send my apologies to Muzu.” Laflat nodded, shutting the door behind her as she left, the sound of her flippers slapping on the stone paths of the Zora domain muffled through the door.

“I do apologize, Link, but I have to go. You’re welcome to stay in my room for now.” Link nodded as Sidon left, the door clicking shut gently. Atlas barked, reminding Link of his presence.

“Sorry bud, have I neglected you?” Link chuckled a bit, leaning over to pet Atlas’ particularly fluffy patch behind his ears. Atlas leapt up and licked Link’s face, using a little too much force and knocking Link over. Speaking of which, he was practically as heavy as Link was- if he were to stand on his back legs, he’d be even taller than Link. Maybe even the height of an average zora.

That was almost a little terrifying, if Atlas weren’t his greatest friend in the world and also incapable of doing anything bad. Link smiled as Atlas got off of him to let him up, bounding towards the door and scratching at it. 

“You wanna go and play, bud? Alright.” Link opened the door and followed Atlas down the stairs, smiling at the comforting weight of his new necklace bouncing against his chest. He jogged back to his room with Atlas at his side, opening the door quickly and hunting through his drawers to find the zora armor. He flung his clothes off, careful not to look in the mirror as he hastily pulled on the suit. The tight sensation of the suit on his chest offered him some comfort, though he didn’t know why. He supposed it had been crafted this way to help flatten his chest before he’d had the surgery near Gerudo town.

He whistled to grab Atlas’ attention once more before running out the door, racing him to the square. His feet pounded against the solid stone of the zora domain, laughing as Atlas raced after him to catch up before he finally got to Mipha’s statue. Atlas, of course, won.

“Alright, boy, you ready?” Link asked, running over to the railing before vaulting himself over it into the reservoir below. Hearing a few Zora call his name in alarm, he crashed into the water, spinning elegantly with the help of the zora armor and kicking his way back up to the surface. Atlas leapt down next to him, paddling to get to his owner as he laughed. Rain splattered down on his face, keeping his face wet even when it was out of the water.

Link let Atlas catch up and then started swimming towards the series of waterfalls that would lead up to Lulu lake. He loved how the flippers carried him forward so gracefully through the water, smiling as Atlas apparently figured out that he had some Zora armor as well. The two of them sped across the lake towards the waterfall, Link leaping up into the upwards stream and climbing the waterfall with ease. Although he’d only done it a few times before, that he could remember, the muscle memory that allowed him to dash upwards with incredible speed.

He waited on a rock at the top for Atlas to do the same, grinning widely as his dog climbed up onto the rock as well, his long fur dripping water.

“Alright, next one!” Link cheered, diving back into the pond and dashing towards the next waterfall. He heard Atlas splash into the pond right behind him, both swimming as fast as they could to the waterfall before fighting the strong current upwards. Atlas seemed to love the water falling all around him and trying to push him down, the zora armor helping him along.

Link flew into the air from momentum, laughing in glee as he saw Atlas do the same. He reached out and grabbed onto him, twisting in the air to dive into Lulu Lake.

The two of them both plunged into the depths before Link let Atlas go so he could swim back up if he wanted to. Link let the bubbles wash over his face as he swam around at the bottom, reaching out to grab a fish in front of him. It tried to squirm away from him but he held on tighter as he kicked his way back up to the surface, locating Atlas on the shore.

He waded towards Atlas, smiling at the dripping wet pooch as he climbed up to the sandy shoreline. He used the sharp claws of his Zora armor to pierce the fish’s body to make sure it wouldn’t slowly suffocate on the shore in an inhumane fashion.

He kicked a few branches into a pile, making a makeshift spit and positioning the fish to be grilled over a fire he’d start when he felt like it.

He looked back over the serene surface of Lulu lake, thinking back to when he’d first met Sidon. Perhaps with the Zora armor, he could perform such a leap as he had? He whistled, grabbing Atlas’ attention, before running back into the lake and diving down as deep as he could go. 

Atlas joined him, Link performing a simple hand motion to get Atlas to come to him. Link wrapped his arms around Atlas before kicking rapidly with his feet, sailing upwards through the water and then leaping only a feet or so from the water before crashing back down. 

Link released Atlas, watching him paddle around in the lake as a fish caught his attention. He grinned at Atlas before diving back to the bottom of the lake and attempting the leap once more. 

He spun around in the water like a torpedo, hurling himself into the air and then on a whim, activating Revali’s gale, his wings almost an extension of Link’s arms- he was carried high up above the surface of the lake, and then screamed in joy as he rapidly plunged back down towards the lake. The rain fell down on his back heavily with him as he spun for a moment so that he would land in a belly-flop, crashing into the water in a way that was intensely painful. And yet, he could not bring himself to care.

He was free. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is not the end!!! Don't be alarmed. It's just the end of the first part. I'm going to have a second part posted, so don't worry!!! Meanwhile, i'll be going back and editing past chapters. 
> 
> Speaking of which, if you go back to chapter one, you can see an absolutely terrible mathematical error which took me five months to notice. Apparently, none of y'all noticed it either, or you just didn't tell me that you'd notice, lol. I'm fixing it soon though, so never fear!
> 
> Thanks for reading :)

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!!! sorry that it was so long and kind of badly paced I couldn't figure out how to wrap it up for the next chapter. i'll try to update somewhat regularly but i'll have to see what works with my schedule the best before i can make an update schedule


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